Steps for Converting a PDF
- Open your document in Adobe Acrobat Pro.
- Select Menu (PC) or File from the Menu bar at the top (Mac).
- Hover over the Export a PDF option.
- Hover over the selected file format you wish to export to: Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint.
- Select the version of Word, Excel, or PowerPoint you have. A Save as PDF dialogue box will appear.
- Type the name you wish to title your new document, and select where you would like to save the new document to.
- Click on the Settings button.
- Ensure that Retain Flowing Text and Recognize Text if Needed is selected.
- Click Ok to confirm the settings.
- Select Save. The conversion process will begin.
Explaining Common Errors
Text Formatting
PDF conversion relies on OCR technology, which allows the program to extract text from a PDF and transfer it into a new file format. However, this process is imperfect and often introduces formatting errors.
- Different or Multiple fonts: the font used in a PDF may not translate to available fonts in your Microsoft Word or PowerPoint library. This may result in different or multiple fonts being used in the conversion process.
- Letters/Characters may become overlapped in the export process.
- Font may become distorted, stretched, or squished in the export process.
- Excess spacing between characters may occur
Solution: Bulk change font in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint using the CTRL/CMD + A option. Use a basic font, like Times New Roman or Arial. PDFs with this font will transfer over best. To fix overlapped, distorted, stretched, or squished characters, you may need to address these words on an individual basis—often re-typing these words out.
Incorrect Words and Look-Alike Characters
OCR technology may have issues distinguishing between characters too close together, resulting in misspelled words. For example, characters like “m” may be transferred over as “rn.” Or, the number “0” may transfer over as the letter “O.”
Solution: Built-in spell checks will catch and highlight these mis-conversions in most cases. Use the spell checker to your advantage. You can also use the Find-and-Replace function to implement corrections for these errors in the whole document.
Hyphenated Words
You may notice your exported file contains a slew of hyphenated words. These hyphens are added when words are split across two lines. This is a result of PDFs using Justified text alignment (text that lines up perfectly on both the left and right), which is a common practice for many journal publications.
Solution: Bulk change text alignment in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint using the CTRL/CMD + A option. Left text alignment is the most accessibly friendly. You can also use the Find-and-Replace function or CTRL+F function to highlight all hyphens and delete the inconsistent ones.
Line Breaks
Differences in margins, line spacing, and text alignment may result in excess line breaks and spacing throughout the whole document.
Solution: Edit the margins and spacing for the exported document to mimic that in the PDF. You can also manually delete excess line breaks in the document by using the Show Formatting Marks option to identify where manual line breaks have been added.
Image, Table, and Formula Elements
Documents with images, tables, and formulas may experience issues in the conversion process. Images may become misaligned, distorted, or pixelated. Tables may be brought over as an image rather than a searchable table. Formulas may be brought over as an image, and if they aren’t, they are often distorted or altered with mathematical characters being subbed out for textual characters.
Solution: For images, you may want to manually insert the image. If you own the image, compress it first. If you do not own the image, insert a screenshot of the original image into the document. For tables, you will likely need to rebuild it in Word or PowerPoint—especially if it transfers over as an image. Finally, formulas may need to be built within Microsoft Word. For complex mathematical equations, you may need to transfer the formula over as an image and provide comprehensive alternative text.
Broken Link
It is likely that links will break during the conversion process. Proofread your document for missing links.
Solution: recreate the broken links using Word’s hyperlink feature.