Issue:
I thought a PDF was created by Word, I should get the exact copy of the original Word document after converting PDF back to Word using Lighten PDF Converter. Why does the output word document look different after PDF conversion?
Reason:
PDF and Microsoft Office and other document formats are totally different document formats.
PDF is a fixed file format, it stores the location of all the elements including text characters, images, tables on a page. And it will also embed the font into the PDF data. The relationships of those elements in PDF are not necessary, as long as they can be displayed in the correct location while opening in a PDF reader. That’s why we’d love to save the document as PDF, it looks the same everywhere.
While data can reflow in Microsoft Word, it focuses more on structural content such as paragraphs, columns, and tables. Even if the PDF was created from Word document, once it is saved as PDF, everything changed. The PDF conversion is to rebuild a Word document using a system of complex rules and algorithm to figure out the best way to show the original PDF. Not simply recover the original PDF, it’s an impossible task.
But if the original PDF was created from Word, the conversion could be easier, at least the Word would support the formatting and most elements. But if the original PDF is not created from Office, say it was created from LaTex, or InDesign, they may contain many complicated layouts, which are not even able to be created in Microsoft Word. In this case, the output file may not keep the original formatting, layouts perfectly after converting PDF to Word.
And the font issue is another common problem during PDF conversion. PDF fonts may not be supported by the output formats, or they are not included in your system, and many other reasons. This article is talking about fonts issue in PDF conversion if you’d like to learn more. Learn More>>
Solutions:
Lighten PDF Converter apps (Including PDF Converter Master, PDF to Word Converter, PDF to Excel Converter) try to build an Office document which is easy for editing while keeping the original layouts and formatting as accurate as possible. Unlike most of the other PDF converters, which put everything in text boxes or format the text content line by line. Lighten PDF Converters detects paragraph during conversion, so we can easier to edit the content. We can edit the output Word document, change the fonts, format the layouts as we want in Microsoft Word, actually this is the reason you want to convert PDF to Word. Word is good at editing, while PDF is good at presenting the look of the original document anywhere.
Here is a tip about formatting the output word document. Learn More>>
And if Lighten PDF Converter is not able to convert your PDF file correctly, please feel free to send the original PDF file to our support team via support[at]lightenpdf.com, we will try to convert it for you and send it back ASAP.