# PDF question after saving a Word doc **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 21, 2022, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pdf-question-after-saving-a-word-doc/964846 "2022-05-21T18:50:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2022, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pdf-question-after-saving-a-word-doc/964846/1 "2022-05-21T18:50:15Z")
This is likely a stupid one I can’t Google because I just don’t know the right words. I saved a word document as a PDF to send out to a group (because not everyone has Word) and now it has all kinds of little formatting phrases (Formatted: List Paragraph, Bulleted + Level: 1 + Aligned at: 0.25" + Indent at: 0.5")and lines through words. How do I get rid of it? And what did I do? Thanks for your help and patience! ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2022, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pdf-question-after-saving-a-word-doc/964846/2 "2022-05-21T18:58:20Z")
When you select Save As PDF in Word, when the new window opens that allows you to name the file and specify the location, click the Options box at the bottom of that window. Uncheck the “Enable Accessibility and Reflow” and the “Convert Comments” boxes and then re-save it. See if that helps. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2022, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pdf-question-after-saving-a-word-doc/964846/3 "2022-05-21T19:17:08Z")
For “electronic paper” functionality, you can also use Acrobat Distiller (or free-software equivalent, i.e., Ghostscript) and Print from Word instead of trying to “Save as PDF”. Works from any application. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2022, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pdf-question-after-saving-a-word-doc/964846/4 "2022-05-21T19:26:57Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > click the Options box at the bottom of that window. Uncheck the “Enable Accessibility and Reflow” and the “Convert Comments” boxes and then re-save it. See if that helps. This is going to also sound dumb, but I followed your advice and the items you mentioned weren’t listed, so did something very similar (looked in the options and unchecked some likely-looking boxes) and re-saved. Unfortunately, when I tried to save another document as a PDF to check what options I changed, they weren’t available. But I solved the problem, so…hooray? And thanks, you pointed me in the right direction, anyway! 😃 > [@DPRK](#): > > For “electronic paper” functionality, you can also use Acrobat Distiller (or free-software equivalent, i.e., Ghostscript) and Print from Word instead of trying to “Save as PDF”. Works from any application. Thanks, I will check that out too! ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2022, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pdf-question-after-saving-a-word-doc/964846/5 "2022-05-21T19:31:40Z")
You probably have a different version of Acrobat than I do, most likely (I’m still using an older standalone - Acrobat 2020). But at least you got rid of the tags! ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2022, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pdf-question-after-saving-a-word-doc/964846/6 "2022-05-21T21:24:48Z")
Windows 10 and 11 have “Print to PDF” built in. You print the document and select “Print to PDF” as the destination printer. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2022, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pdf-question-after-saving-a-word-doc/964846/7 "2022-05-21T21:56:15Z")
Yes and you can go from any format to PDF using the print to PDF option. When I want to save the content, not just a link, to a web page, I use that option. Of course, without the Acrobat Distiller, you can’t edit it. ---
**Author:** ![Tabco](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tabco/32/7644_2.png) [@Tabco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabco)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2022, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pdf-question-after-saving-a-word-doc/964846/8 "2022-05-21T21:59:56Z")
I have on occasion managed to accidentally save Word documents as PDFs with “track changes” turned on (a feature that lets you see what changes you made to a document over time). The result was a bunch of proofing comments and crossed-out words. In MS Word, I had to go to the Review tab, then the Changes panel, then Accept, and select “Accept all changes and stop tracking.” I don’t know know if this is the sort of thing you were seeing, though. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2022, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pdf-question-after-saving-a-word-doc/964846/9 "2022-05-21T22:16:13Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Yes and you can go from any format to PDF using the print to PDF option. When I want to save the content, not just a link, to a web page, I use that option. Of course, without the Acrobat Distiller, you can’t edit it. Distiller is the component that installs a “print to PDF” driver and/or converts pre-existing PostScript files into PDF. (It also lets you specify the exact version and compatibility of the resulting PDF, for example if you need it to be PDF/A-1b or PDF/X-1a or whatever.) To edit a PDF file, you can use the normal Adobe Acrobat or any other PDF editor. The Distiller is not directly related to the PDF reading/editing software, as far as I know. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2022, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pdf-question-after-saving-a-word-doc/964846/10 "2022-05-21T22:35:45Z")
> [@Tabco](#): > > I have on occasion managed to accidentally save Word documents as PDFs with “track changes” turned on (a feature that lets you see what changes you made to a document over time). The result was a bunch of proofing comments and crossed-out words. In MS Word, I had to go to the Review tab, then the Changes panel, then Accept, and select “Accept all changes and stop tracking.” I don’t know know if this is the sort of thing you were seeing, though. Came in here to say exactly this. The changes that were being tracked may not have shown up in the original Word doc if the “No Markup” display option (next to the Track Changes button) was selected. Even if tracked changes aren’t being displayed, they’re still being tracked and haven’t been accepted yet, so it makes sense that they might show up in a document that gets converted to PDF. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2022, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pdf-question-after-saving-a-word-doc/964846/11 "2022-05-22T01:32:00Z")
> [@Tabco](#): > > The result was a bunch of proofing comments and crossed-out words. It sounds a lot like it. It was a lot of formatting things, not editing, though. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2022, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pdf-question-after-saving-a-word-doc/964846/12 "2022-05-22T06:51:18Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > It sounds a lot like it. It was a lot of formatting things, not editing, though. I’m in a critique group where we use track changes to comment on each others’ pieces, and formatting commands shows up on one of the people’s revised files. I suspect they’d show up in pdf also. Something might be turned on - it isn’t in mine. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2022, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pdf-question-after-saving-a-word-doc/964846/13 "2022-05-22T13:01:44Z")
When I use track changes in Word, it always shows formatting changes. Bold, italics, indent, paragraph additions/ deletions. I usually go through the doc and delete all formatting changes before I send it to the next person in the review process, as that’s not relevant to our work, generally. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2022, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pdf-question-after-saving-a-word-doc/964846/14 "2022-05-22T23:03:04Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Distiller is the component that installs a “print to PDF” driver and/or converts pre-existing PostScript files into PDF. (It also lets you specify the exact version and compatibility of the resulting PDF, for example if you need it to be PDF/A-1b or PDF/X-1a or whatever.) To edit a PDF file, you can use the normal Adobe Acrobat or any other PDF editor. The Distiller is not directly related to the PDF reading/editing software, as far as I know. I have certainly not installed a program called Acrobat Distiller. I do have the Acrobat Reader installed. Only because I have to file a US government report that can be done only with an Acrobat reader. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2022, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pdf-question-after-saving-a-word-doc/964846/15 "2022-05-22T23:24:46Z")
Yeah, but she is making comments, not changing the format, and the changes show up in places with no comments. Oops - I have it. Her eyesight is quite bad (she is over 80) and I bet she is expanding the font on sections she is looking at more closely. That teeny tiny mystery solved. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2022, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pdf-question-after-saving-a-word-doc/964846/16 "2022-05-22T23:29:44Z")
That could be it. And if she’s over 80 and knows how to expand fonts, more power to her! ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2022, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pdf-question-after-saving-a-word-doc/964846/17 "2022-05-22T23:36:15Z")
You might say it’s……font-tastic? ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2022, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pdf-question-after-saving-a-word-doc/964846/18 "2022-05-23T10:03:54Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > It sounds a lot like it. It was a lot of formatting things, not editing, though. Changes to the formatting are edits just as surely as changes to spelling or grammar. When “Track Changes” is turned on, _any_ changes to the document are highlighted. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2022, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pdf-question-after-saving-a-word-doc/964846/19 "2022-05-23T16:45:44Z")
I think my version of Acrobat came with Distiller, but if your version of Windows already has “Print to PDF”, you may not need it, and if it does not, you can install Ghostscript instead. Either way, that is only relevant for _producing_ PDF files, not editing them. Also the pdfTeX/LuaTeX engines know how to output PDF directly. The print-to-PDF is supposed to reproduce whatever would normally print, so if the markup/proofreaders’ marks stuff normally shows up, it will be on the PDF too, and if not, then not. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2022, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pdf-question-after-saving-a-word-doc/964846/20 "2022-05-23T17:07:34Z")
Sounds like you have track changes on. In the top ribbon, click on Review. At about the middle, you’ll see a Track Changes icon. Next to it, I’m assuming All Markup is showing. Go a couple sections over to the right. There’s a page icon with Accept. Click on the little menu next to it and click “Accept all changes and stop tracking.” Now your doc should be ready to export to PDF without getting all that markup. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pdf-question-after-saving-a-word-doc/964846.md?page=2)