You perfect the layout in Word — then the PDF comes out with shifted tables, blurry images and substituted fonts. Here's how to convert Word to PDF so the formatting survives intact, using free methods and software you already have.
Short answer: use Word's built-in File → Export → Create PDF/XPS (not a virtual PDF printer), turn on font embedding under File → Options → Save, and export at “Standard” quality. Then open the PDF, zoom to 200% and check tables, images and page breaks. This preserves fonts, layout and hyperlinks far better than print-to-PDF.
Formatting breaks for three predictable reasons. First, fonts: if the recipient's (or converter's) system lacks your font, it gets silently substituted — Calibri becomes something else, spacing shifts, and pagination moves. Second, conversion method: virtual PDF printers re-render the document through a print driver, which mangles floating images, text boxes and complex tables. Word's native exporter preserves the document model directly. Third, version differences: a .docx laid out in Word 2021 can reflow when opened in an older Word, Google Docs or LibreOffice before conversion — so the PDF faithfully preserves the wrong layout.
The good news: every one of these is preventable, and none of it requires paid software.
Font substitution is the #1 cause of broken conversions. Embedding adds a little file size but guarantees your typography survives on any device, including phones and printers.
Images below ~150 DPI look blurry in print-quality PDFs; absurdly large images just bloat the file. 220 DPI is the sweet spot for documents that will be both viewed and printed.
Nested tables, merged cells across pages and floating tables are the most fragile elements. If a table must span pages, allow row breaks (Table Properties → Row → “Allow row to break across pages”).
Word for Windows and Word for Mac use different layout engines — the same .docx can paginate differently. Always export the PDF on the machine where the layout looks correct.
Docs' File → Download → PDF is decent for simple documents but mangles complex Word formatting (text boxes, advanced tables). For important documents, convert in real Word, not Docs.
Word's native exporter preserves clickable hyperlinks and table-of-contents links; print-to-PDF usually kills them. If your document has links, never use a virtual printer.
We don't host a Word→PDF converter — the methods above use Word, LibreOffice or Google Docs, which you already have. Our free tools handle what happens after conversion: compressing, merging and splitting the resulting PDF.
Accept or reject all tracked changes before exporting — otherwise comments and markup either vanish or bake into the PDF in ugly ways.
VBA macros never survive conversion, and Word form fields become static text. If you need fillable forms, build them in the PDF afterwards.
Embedded Excel charts and Visio diagrams export as high-resolution images and can make enormous PDFs. Compress the finished PDF with our compressor if it gets unwieldy.
Because the fonts weren't embedded. The converter (or the reader's device) substitutes a lookalike font, which shifts spacing and pagination. Fix: in Word, File → Options → Save → check “Embed fonts in the file”, then export again.
You likely exported at “Minimum size” quality, which downsamples images aggressively. Re-export at “Standard (publishing online and printing)” quality, and make sure source images are at least 150–220 DPI.
Yes — they use different layout engines, so the same document can paginate differently. Rule of thumb: finalize the layout and export the PDF on the same machine, and verify the result at 200% zoom.
Yes. LibreOffice Writer (free, open-source) exports to PDF with font embedding via File → Export As → Export as PDF. Google Docs can do File → Download → PDF for simple documents, but check complex formatting carefully.
Use Word's File → Export → Create PDF/XPS — it preserves clickable links, including table-of-contents entries. Virtual PDF printers typically strip them, so avoid print-to-PDF for linked documents.
Usually oversized embedded images or charts. Downscale images to ~220 DPI before converting, export at Standard (not maximum) quality, and afterwards run the PDF through a compressor to trim the remaining fat.