Common Formatting Issues (And Why They Happen)
Most formatting problems during conversion fall into a few predictable categories. Understanding the root cause makes them easy to fix:
- 1.Font substitution. If your document uses a font the converter does not have, it swaps in a similar font. This changes letter spacing, line breaks, and sometimes pushes content to the next page.
- 2.Margin and page size differences. If your document was designed for A4 paper but the converter defaults to Letter size (or vice versa), content near the edges can get cut off or shifted.
- 3.Image displacement. Images anchored to text may shift when line spacing changes due to font substitution. Images set to "in line with text" are more stable than floating images.
- 4.Table overflow. Wide Excel tables can extend beyond the PDF page width, cutting off columns on the right side.
- 5.Special characters missing. Symbols, emojis, or characters from non-Latin scripts may not render if the font does not support them.
How to Prevent Formatting Issues (Step by Step)
Use standard, widely available fonts
Stick to Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman, Verdana, or Helvetica. These fonts are available on every operating system and every PDF converter. Avoid decorative or custom-installed fonts for critical documents.
Prepare your document before converting
In Word: accept tracked changes and remove comments. In Excel: set the print area and choose landscape for wide tables. In PowerPoint: check that no text overflows beyond slide boundaries.
Convert and verify the result
Upload to OmnisPDF's Office to PDF tool, download the PDF, and open it to check every page. Look for shifted images, missing fonts, cut-off tables, and incorrect page breaks.
Word to PDF: Formatting Tips
Embed Fonts in Your Document
In Microsoft Word, go to File > Options > Save and check "Embed fonts in the file." This bundles your fonts into the document so the converter can use them exactly as intended. This increases file size slightly but eliminates font substitution problems.
Set Images to "In Line with Text"
Floating images (set to "square," "tight," or "behind text" wrapping) are the most likely to shift during conversion. Right-click each image, choose "Wrap Text," and select "In Line with Text" for maximum stability. Use the Word to PDF tool for the most reliable conversion.
Remove Tracked Changes and Comments
Tracked changes and comments can appear unexpectedly in the PDF if they are not resolved. Go to Review > Accept All Changes, then delete all comments before converting.
Excel to PDF: Formatting Tips
- ✓ Set the print area. Select the cells you want in the PDF, then go to Page Layout > Print Area > Set Print Area. This prevents extra blank columns from appearing in the PDF.
- ✓ Use landscape orientation for wide spreadsheets. Go to Page Layout > Orientation > Landscape.
- ✓ Fit to one page. In Page Setup, set Width to "1 page" to prevent columns from being cut off. Be careful with very wide sheets — the text may become too small to read.
- ✓ Check Print Preview first. Before converting, use File > Print Preview to see exactly how your spreadsheet will look as a PDF. Fix any issues in the spreadsheet before uploading to Excel to PDF.
PowerPoint to PDF: Formatting Tips
- ✓ Check text overflow. Text that extends beyond the slide boundary in PowerPoint may get clipped in the PDF. Make sure all text fits within the visible area of each slide.
- ✓ Understand what does not transfer. Animations, slide transitions, embedded videos, and audio will not appear in the PDF. Each slide becomes a static page showing all elements in their final position.
- ✓ Use standard slide sizes. If you used a custom slide size, the PDF pages will match that size. Standard 16:9 or 4:3 slides convert most reliably with the PowerPoint to PDF tool.
- ✓ Embed fonts in PowerPoint. Just like Word, go to File > Options > Save > "Embed fonts in the file" to prevent font substitution.