PDF to Word does not maintain layout

[kio]

Good morning:

I have a PDF file downloaded from the internet that's giving me problems
(because it was created/assembled/merged NOT with PDF-XChange, but with other PDF programs).
Now, if I don't first convert it to Word and then convert it back to PDF (but this time with PDF-XChange),
this file will always give me problems:
In fact, I repeatedly received the problem/error "...XREF not found...etc."
and so my PDF was destroyed, losing all its content, especially the comments I had added.

So, over time, I've tried several times
(both with the old version 10.5.0.393 I had and with the current one from January 8th)
to convert this file from PDF to Word.
I've tried every possible setting: I tried it with the "XChange" program itself, with "PDF Tools," and with "PDF XChange Office to PDF."
Additionally, in the Word conversion settings, I tried both "Retain Page Layout" and "Retain Flowing Text",
but every time I convert it to Word, the Word pages never retain their formatting perfectly:
for example, the spaces, lengths, spacing, and fonts are slightly different from the PDF, etc.

So, after I transfer the comments from the original PDF (downloaded from the internet)
to the one converted to Word, and then convert them back with PDF XChange, the comments are slightly shifted from where they should be.

What can I do? Is it a PDF XChange problem? Is it a Microsoft Word problem? (I have "Word365" and "Microsoft 11")

I am forwarding you here both the complete file

Original (COMPLETE).pdf

and 2 test pages:
one is a page of the original PDF downloaded from the internet,

Original.pdf

and the other is a page made with PDF XChange and created from a previous conversion to Word:

XChange.pdf

to show you the difference in the comments, which are moved.

Thanks for anything you can tell me.

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, kio

I cannot reproduce the Xref not found error with either copy of the "original" file - is there a specific task you are performing that causes that to appear? Perhaps it would help if you could walk us through the whole process leading up to that message first?

Normally such errors would indicate that whatever was used to create the file did not do so properly adhering to the PDF specification, and when we tried our software was unable to resolve it safely, so we leave the file as it to avoid damaging it further. We do improve our capabilities in this area as time goes on, so it could be that build 10.8.2 contains the improvements needed to resolve this, while your older version did not. Has that specific error continued to appear for you in the latest release, or did it vanish with the update?

I did a few tests using the default conversion settings:

image(1).png

Is this what your convert to word settings look like? - If not, please do include a screenshot of those.

This appears to convert to Word properly with the comments in place (though the colors are off - I will check in on if that is an issue on our end, or just a display error due to color profile variance on my device alone).

image.png

(I also tested with the larger file, but as per usual, Word struggles to handling so many pages. I was able to confirm that the highlights are still in the correct places, even in the latest pages of the file (which has been an issue in the past, but seems to be fixed now) - so I am sorry to say that this issue does not appear to be caused by anything on our end.

It would also be good if you could send us a copy of the resultant output Word document generated by the latest release (or at least, an excerpt of the affected pages, instead of just the re-converted PDF.
You may need to place it in a zip file to upload it here.

Kind regards,

[kio]

no no, the "XREF..." problem is not happening to me now, but it happened to me in the previous months:
because it is a PDF downloaded from the internet,
and over the previous months this PDF downloaded from the internet crashed, and got corrupted,
appearing the "XREF..." problem:
so, to avoid this "XREF..." problem coming back again and reappearing,
I want (once and for all) to convert this internet PDF, first to Word and then again to PDF XChange.

Yes, I use the same settings as in the photo,
but the only difference is that I (purposely) didn't include the "comments" option,
precisely because of this problem:
that is, because Word doesn't let me color-code the comments as I had highlighted them in the PDF.
So, if you accidentally try to convert your PDF,
first to Word WITHOUT comments, and then to PDF XChange, and try to import the comments,
you'll notice that all the comments "jump" or "move."

Here is an excerpt from the PDF (6 pages), taken from the internet.

1-6 (PDF from INTERNET).pdf

Here is the Word document [generated by the latest release] (6 pages),
extracted from the PDF on the internet,
where I purposely removed the comments before converting it to Word.

1-6 (Word WITHOUT comments).rar

Here are the comments, extracted from the internet PDF
(and to be inserted into Word, after having converted it with XChange)

1-6 comments.rar

the complete file downloaded from the internet is the one in the previous post, 9.3 MB.

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, kio

Ahh, in that case, i may have a better solution for you. (though I should warn, this is a solution that is not normally recommended, as it can lead to loss of text content data - You will definitely want to continue with the comment "export/import" process, but this should address the problem with your comment positions).

Instead of using Word as an interim format - you can use the "print" function, to send the document to our PDF-XChange lite or standard printer. When you do so, set the print output to "document" instead of "document and comments":

image.png

Note that in the process, the text may be converted to "shapes" if this happens, you will want to check with the "select text" tool. And if it cannot select the present text, run our Enhanced OCR on the file to generate a new editable text layer.

Once this is done, you will have a new, freshly made PDF file, hopefully with all the correct text in place. And you can then import the comments to continue on your way!

Kind regards,

[kio]

Yes, it works: thanks.

But I'm wondering:

1.
Converting this PDF (downloaded from the internet) using "XChange print standard," if I understand correctly,
should repair/fix the "XREF..." error that I was getting in the downloaded PDF, right?

2.
However, I noticed that the file went from 10 MB to 370 MB:
I tried changing all the "xchange standard" printer settings, but nothing: it still stays at 370 MB.

Furthermore, if I try to convert from PDF to JBIG2, the file becomes 250 MB, so that would be better
(even if with JBIG2 in black and white, I would lose some colors [highlights made with Word and colored text made with Word]
that I had previously inserted directly from Word)

So:

3.
If there's no other way, I'll keep this 370 MB PDF, confident that at least the "XREF..." error has been resolved and won't appear.
If, however, there's a future way to fix Word,
(ensuring that, when converting from PDF to Word, the highlight colors are recognized by Word
without being changed/damaged, and the layout remains the same),
that would be even better for me, because the file is much smaller, with fewer MB,
and consequently, if I use the "search" command with the "magnifying glass [Ctrl+F]",
searching within the PDF is much faster.

But in the meantime, thank you, as always, for your continued support.

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, kio

1. Yes, printing the file will re-generate it as a whole new document. Essentially it is the "quick" version of printing to paper, and then scanning back to PDF. Some internal content would be lost (like bookmarks and such) but it should give a better overall result than the word or pure image conversion.

2. The file size should not be increasing that much unless the document is entirely image based already - or you have "print as image" enabled possibly? Can you check those, and if that does not help to reduce the size of the image - could I ask you to click the "More..." button in the advanced area, and send a screenshot of your print settings + the window that appears?

3. If the file size is too large after this process, you can use the "save as optimized" tool - or the "recompress images" tool, to quickly convert the image content to a smaller format. I would recommend the recompress images process here, to actively convert the items to JBIG2 - as that should result in notable size savings - and no impact on the highlight/shape items.

Kind regards,

[kio]

No, I didn't set "print as images."

I tried twice more (even resetting all settings to "reset settings"), but nothing happened:
the file went from 10MB to 415MB, both with "XCHANGE" and "PDF Tools."

The 10MB PDF has virtually no images in 2,500 pages,
except for the first page in black and white: the rest is just Word text.

1..png

2. 'more'.png

3. print.png

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, kio

Thank you for confirming... I have spent some more time playing with that, and surely enough I am seeing the same no matter what I try here..
I have escalated this to the Dev team in hopes they have a solution for us.

Kind regards,

[kio]

Yes, I tried practically everything:
I read the entire guide for the "standard PDF printer",
and I tried changing all the settings:
"compression, colors, resolution, etc.", but nothing:
the same large file always came out.

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, kio

As soon as I have any information from the Dev team i will let you know - but for now we will simply have to wait for them. I expect that improvements like this, if possible, will require a software update, and are not something that simple settings changes will address satisfactorily.

Kind regards,