Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Save as PDF... from Word 2008

A

Archive

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 23, 2007
57
0
Hi there,

when i create a PDF file of my *.docx in Word 2008, I get a 'strange' PDF. This happens wether I use the "Save as PDF..." from the print dialog, or save the file as a PDF from Word's own "Save as..." dialogue.

Opening the PDF in either Preview or Adobe Acrobat works just fine, and the PDF looks just like I want it to be, but whenever I mark some text, a whole range of text is marked.

Thus it is impossible to mark just a single line/word/character and the produced PDFs are useless in my line of work, since I need people to mark text in them and post comments.

Interesting facts:

1) When I "Save as PostScript..." from Word 2008, then open the *.ps file in Preview and save as PDF from there, everything is fine.

2) Printing to PDF via print dialogue -> "Save as PDF..." produces perfect PDFs in any other Program (such as TextMate), also with selectable text.

Does anybody have an idea what could be the problem?
 
Erm, Office 2008 blows massive chunks? :rolleyes: :D

BTW I have the same problem. Hopefully someone else knows the fix. I suspect my previous comment goes a long way to explaining it though.
 
lol.

Yeah, Word 08 is that piece of software on my Mac which I wish I didn't have to use....bloated, buggy, etc.

Unfortunately I can't do all the things I need with Pages 08, which I find way more attractive.
 
could be a problem with the docx format. have you tried saving it as a .doc format and saving from PDF from that? i never use docx because not everyone supports it and it might have some issues previously not found in office 2003 or similar early versions. truth of the matter is, word might be bloated but as long as a good chunk of people i work with use PC hardware and communicate with files that way, i am at a loss and will need to adapt. i've always used PCs and Macs so i don't care either way...
 
nadyne said:
Would it be possible for me to get a copy of the Word file that you're using? PM me for my email address.

Regards,
Nadyne.
Click to expand...

I love Nadyne. Always seems to be on top of things.

I was under the impression that the 'save as PDF' in Word was identical to the 'print to PDF' in Leopard, like they used the same API or something. I have had few issues regarding either.
 
nadyne said:
Would it be possible for me to get a copy of the Word file that you're using? PM me for my email address.

Regards,
Nadyne.
Click to expand...

Hi Nadyne, the bug is easily reproducible, just follow the OP's method.
I can reproduce it in Word 12.1.5 printing/saving .docx to PDF on Leopard 10.5.6.
 
I just tried it, using both the "Save as.." and "Print" methods. It worked perfectly fine. I was able to select one word, part of a word, or a few words and highlight, strikethrough or underline. Zero problems.
 

Attachments

  • Picture 2.jpg
    Picture 2.jpg
    41 KB · Views: 6,552
ggjstudios said:
I just tried it, using both the "Save as.." and "Print" methods. It worked perfectly fine. I was able to select one word, part of a word, or a few words and highlight, strikethrough or underline. Zero problems.
Click to expand...

Okay, now I'm stumped. Do you run Leopard or Tiger? I would now be curious to know what configuration drlunanerd and I share, which you do not.

I just wanted to add:

This has become something of a larger dilemma. It seems in having to take that workaround I mentioned using the PostScript file, Acrobat Distiller creates PDF files, where I can mark the text, but I cannot find it via the built in search (neither using Acrobat Reader nor Apple Preview). What's more, when I print the PDF the characters on the last pages mess up randomly. Single characters are moved between the lines "cre at ingan ef fectl ike so".

However, when I check that very same page with preview or Acrobat Reader the page looks fine. This is very annoying since there's no way for me to tell if the PDF will produce these weird results when I give it to a professional printer.

I would be very thankful for any advice on the matter.
 
aross99 said:
I must say, I'm quite impressed with her also. It says alot that she watches MR and tries to help...

Keep up the good work!
Click to expand...

I started posting here before I joined Microsoft. :) I actually owe my job with MacBU to Macrumors. (Yes, really!)

drlunanerd said:
Hi Nadyne, the bug is easily reproducible, just follow the OP's method.
I can reproduce it in Word 12.1.5 printing/saving .docx to PDF on Leopard 10.5.6.
Click to expand...

I tried on my Leopard box running 12.1.5 and didn't reproduce it, which is why I asked for the file so I can see if I get the same behaviour on my box with that file. If I'm not seeing it on his file when I get it, then we'll have to figure out what it is that's triggering this issue.

Regards,
Nadyne.
 
I didn't check earlier, but I get the same effect. The resulting pdf file from Word, when opened in preview cannot have text selectable as you would normally use it.

I don't what program ggjstudios is using, but my preview select is in blue, not yellow.
 
mrkgoo said:
I didn't check earlier, but I get the same effect. The resulting pdf file from Word, when opened in preview cannot have text selectable as you would normally use it.

I don't what program ggjstudios is using, but my preview select is in blue, not yellow.
Click to expand...


Looks like marking the text using either Skitch or Adobe Acrobat (not reader).

I thought this was normal behaviour, but I'm relieved to know its not (although other people have the same issue).
 
mrkgoo said:
I don't what program ggjstudios is using, but my preview select is in blue, not yellow.
Click to expand...
if you try reading posts:
Leopard. 10.5.6. MS Office 2008. All updates current. No customization or add-ons to Office.
Click to expand...
The markup was done on the pdf file from Preview.
"I was able to select one word, part of a word, or a few words and highlight, strikethrough or underline."
Click to expand...
The yellow is not a selection; it's a highlight, done with Preview on the .pdf file I created from the Word document. In this image, which is a screen capture from the .pdf file as viewed in Preview, the purple is a selection. The yellow is a highlight (Tools > Markup > Highlight). The other two are obvious.

Picture 2.jpg
 
Okay, sorry for reviving this, but I am really at the point where I need a solution for this.

I've just done a clean install with Mac OSX Leopard and updated it to 10.5.6 and installed only MS Office 2008 and updated that to 12.1.0.

When I create the PDF from either the "Save as..." or "Print" dialogs, I can't mark the text in Apple Preview, without the huge amounts of the text being marked was well. That I already had mentioned.

The problem now, is that if a windows user (Windows XP) tries to print my PDF using Adobe Acrobat Reader 9 everything is messed up. It looks as if characters wander around within their respective lines. Everything is unreadable.

Now I've just finished writing my thesis, but I cannot get it into the PDF format without running into all these troubles. The printer I want to hand it to works with PDF files and i cannot attach my laptop to their machines.

Oh, and I've already tried opening the *.docx in Word 2007 (windows). But it randomly doesn't display inserted PDF graphics, so the document is incompatible between Word 2008 and Word 2007.

Has anybody found a solution yet?
 
Archive said:
Okay, sorry for reviving this, but I am really at the point where I need a solution for this.

I've just done a clean install with Mac OSX Leopard and updated it to 10.5.6 and installed only MS Office 2008 and updated that to 12.1.0.

When I create the PDF from either the "Save as..." or "Print" dialogs, I can't mark the text in Apple Preview, without the huge amounts of the text being marked was well. That I already had mentioned.

The problem now, is that if a windows user (Windows XP) tries to print my PDF using Adobe Acrobat Reader 9 everything is messed up. It looks as if characters wander around within their respective lines. Everything is unreadable.

Now I've just finished writing my thesis, but I cannot get it into the PDF format without running into all these troubles. The printer I want to hand it to works with PDF files and i cannot attach my laptop to their machines.

Oh, and I've already tried opening the *.docx in Word 2007 (windows). But it randomly doesn't display inserted PDF graphics, so the document is incompatible between Word 2008 and Word 2007.

Has anybody found a solution yet?
Click to expand...

Did you send an example file to Nadyne at Microsoft?
 
Archive said:
Has anybody found a solution yet?
Click to expand...
You won't be able to open the .docx document properly in Windows, but on your Mac, you can save the document as a Word 97-2004 file, with a .doc extension, so it's readable on Windows.

Picture 7.jpg

I still don't know why you can't mark up in Preview. It works fine on my system. I also don't know why a PDF you save would show differently on different systems. That's the whole point of .pdf files: to make a document portable from one system to another, retaining the original appearance. That's baffling!
 
PS I have a hunch this may have something to do with printer drivers. Have you installed any printers?
 
First off, thank you all for replying.

I had sent nadyne the files and after checking through it, she told me that it was a problem with the communication between Adobe Acrobat (not Reader) and Word 2008. She told me that Adobe Acrobat Reader shows the files fine.

Indeed when viewing them in Windows Adobe Acrobat Reader, I could markup text.

However, now that I have a fresh install of leopard without any Adobe products and the problem still persists, this explanation can only be incomplete.

And yes, Word 2007 usually should open *.docx files. Everything looks fine, except for whole ranges of pictures missing. The strange thing is, I had imported all pictures the same. I created them via Illustrator, saved them as PDF using the same settings and imported into the *.docx.

Now Word 2007 refuses to show only 'some' of those. All pictures should be identical by my estimates.
 
drlunanerd said:
PS I have a hunch this may have something to do with printer drivers. Have you installed any printers?
Click to expand...

Yep. The Canon MP610. Do you think I should remove the printing drivers and try again for trouble-shooting?
 
GGJstudios said:
I still don't know why you can't mark up in Preview. It works fine on my system. I also don't know why a PDF you save would show differently on different systems. That's the whole point of .pdf files: to make a document portable from one system to another, retaining the original appearance. That's baffling!
Click to expand...


Sorry for being a bit imprecise. The PDF looks identical on the different systems, however printers connected to windows systems print it differently.
 
Archive said:
I had sent nadyne the files and after checking through it, she told me that it was a problem with the communication between Adobe Acrobat (not Reader) and Word 2008. She told me that Adobe Acrobat Reader shows the files fine.

Indeed when viewing them in Windows Adobe Acrobat Reader, I could markup text.
Click to expand...

I don't have Adobe Acrobat installed and can replicate this bug, so I don't think this is the answer.

Maybe try rolling back to 10.5.5 as perhaps this is a bug introduced somehow by 10.5.6? Also first try removing any printers you have installed and recreating the PDF - worth a shot.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back