Printing from Word to pdf

iqatedoiqatedo
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited June 2015
Sorry if this has come up before, couldn't see it.



Why is it that sometimes, when printing from Word (Office X) to pdf, the print job creates several files from individual pages in the original document. I have looked at all the settings that I can think of, such as document and paragraph settings, to no avail.



Further, is there a way of combining two or more pdf files into one document.



Thanks.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 32
    mpmoriartympmoriarty Posts: 289member
    Hmmm...



    That is odd. You are using the SAVE AS PDF option in the print dialog and not Microsoft Word's PDF output option?



    And you really can't combine multiple PDFs unless you have Adobe Acrobat (the full version not the reader) installed on your Mac.



    Mike
  • Reply 2 of 32
    iqatedoiqatedo Posts: 1,823member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MPMoriarty

    Hmmm...



    That is odd. You are using the SAVE AS PDF option in the print dialog and not Microsoft Word's PDF output option?



    And you really can't combine multiple PDFs unless you have Adobe Acrobat (the full version not the reader) installed on your Mac.

    Mike



    Mike, thanks for your reply.



    That is correct, the 'Save as PDF...' option under the print dialogue. Sometimes Word creates a single document and sometimes, after fiddling with document options such as the paragraph and document settings, the document re-connects but often I get two or more separate pdf files.



    I use pdf a lot and so might look at Acrobat.



    Thanks again.
  • Reply 3 of 32
    vox barbaravox barbara Posts: 2,021member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by IQatEdo

    ...I use pdf a lot and so might look at Acrobat.





    In the meantime you could import PDF files into any layout app (even Word handles this quite well) and just create a pdf. That should help.
  • Reply 4 of 32
    mpmoriartympmoriarty Posts: 289member
    You do have the print pages setting to "all pages".



    This is really weird. I have never had this problem with Office. Although I really don't use Word that much.



    Mike
  • Reply 5 of 32
    iqatedoiqatedo Posts: 1,823member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MPMoriarty

    You do have the print pages setting to "all pages".



    This is really weird. I have never had this problem with Office. Although I really don't use Word that much.



    Mike



    Hi All, thanks for your replies.



    It truly is weird! Yes, I am printing a whole document. I'll tell you though when I experience the problem most. I'm not sure that this is the only time it occurs but it's possible the problem occurs only under the following circumstances. (Wracks brain trying to think of other circumstances - gives up!)



    I gives lectures from powerpoint slides. (Should I be using Keynote?) From these I produce lecture notes, not as reproductions of the slides which are geared to my lecture style but containing the text, which I cut from powerpoint and paste as unformatted text into word. Images usually come from other places, CAD programs, Photoshop etc. I then change the formatting to suit, sometimes producing columns for example. Perhaps some hidden formatting information or buggy data is getting through. Perhaps this is the vital link.



    By the way, I can't get word to open pdf files properly as Vox Barbara I think suggested.



    Thanks again and all the best, David.
  • Reply 6 of 32
    vox barbaravox barbara Posts: 2,021member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by IQatEdo

    ... (Should I be using Keynote?) ...





    Of course. IF you do not have to share your document with other PP users than you, Keynote is the much much better choice



    Quote:

    By the way, I can't get word to open pdf files properly as Vox Barbara I think suggested.

    ...



    Well my friend, word doesn't allow you to open a pdf file directly, therefore you have to import that file. To do so, you have to open a new blank word doc. There are two ways to import a pdf.

    (1) Drag any PDF into the blank word doc via Exposé That's it.



    OR, if you do not like Exposé



    (2) Click --->

    >Insert>Picture>From File>[CHOOSE YOUR PDF FILE]

    Voila Pdf inside Doc

    IF you want to import more than one PDF file, than repeat the action But make sure, that each PDF gets its own page, so make page breaks for each PDF.

    If you are finished, hit print, than "save to pdf" voila: multiple page pdf file



    If this doesn't happen by you, than there might be some issues with your Word Give it a try.
  • Reply 7 of 32
    iqatedoiqatedo Posts: 1,823member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Vox Barbara

    Of course. IF you do not have to share your document with other PP users than you, Keynote is the much much better choice







    Well my friend, word doesn't allow you to open a pdf file directly, therefore you have to import that file. To do so, you have to open a new blank word doc. There are two ways to import a pdf.

    (1) Drag any PDF into the blank word doc via Exposé That's it.



    OR, if you do not like Exposé



    (2) Click --->

    >Insert>Picture>From File>[CHOOSE YOUR PDF FILE]

    Voila Pdf inside Doc



    If this doesn't happen by you, than there might be some issues with your Word Give it a try.



    Well, Vox Barbara my old son (Australian colloquialism, greeting with affection), that's very interesting. By the way, we use Exposé a lot, very nice.



    Thanks for your help.
  • Reply 8 of 32
    vox barbaravox barbara Posts: 2,021member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by IQatEdo

    Well, Vox Barbara my old son (Australian colloquialism, greeting with affection), that's very interesting. By the way, we use Exposé a lot, very nice.



    Thanks for your help.



    Your are welcome.



    Er... One mooooore little thing. This whole Word PDF thing is supposed to mean a workaround to put some single pdf files together quickly, have this in mind.



    For example: Word doesn't recognize more than one page of a given pdf file. If you import a pdf file with more than one page, you will see only the first page. Well... Anyway. But If you have, say, 6 single pdf files and you want just one pdf file with six pages, than this wordaround settles quite fine
  • Reply 9 of 32
    iqatedoiqatedo Posts: 1,823member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Vox Barbara

    Your are welcome.



    Er... One mooooore little thing. This whole Word PDF thing is supposed to mean a workaround to put some single pdf files together quickly, have this in mind.



    For example: Word doesn't recognize more than one page of a given pdf file. If you import a pdf file with more than one page, you will see only the first page. Well... Anyway. But If you have, say, 6 single pdf files and you want just one pdf file with six pages, than this wordaround settles quite fine



    Remember that it was word in the first place that was used to ceated the PDF file(s). I'd just like to create a single file from a single document!



    All the best, David.
  • Reply 10 of 32
    vox barbaravox barbara Posts: 2,021member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by IQatEdo

    Remember that it was word in the first place that was used to ceated the PDF file(s). I'd just like to create a single file from a single document!



    All the best, David.



    Yes i remember that. But give it a try with a blank word doc, like i said.

    And let me know the result. (I just can't imagine that Word splits the doc in multiple pdfs, though)
  • Reply 11 of 32
    iqatedoiqatedo Posts: 1,823member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Vox Barbara

    Yes i remember that. But give it a try with a blank word doc, like i said.

    And let me know the result. (I just can't imagine that Word splits the doc in multiple pdfs, though)



    Just because you asked I can affirm that word did indeed import the PDF file as an image. Now if I could just print a document to a single PDF file...\



    All the best, David.
  • Reply 12 of 32
    mpmoriartympmoriarty Posts: 289member
    Have you tried importing these PDFs into TextEdit and then saving the file as a Word document?



    Mike
  • Reply 13 of 32
    iqatedoiqatedo Posts: 1,823member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MPMoriarty

    Have you tried importing these PDFs into TextEdit and then saving the file as a Word document?



    Mike



    Hi Mike



    Interesting result, a document within a document, each potentially with a set of scroll bars!



    Thanks for that, David.8)
  • Reply 14 of 32
    snowstersnowster Posts: 68member
    I can confirm this behavior. I actually have a few files where this happens. I believe it has something to do with section and/or page breaks. It can be easily tested:



    1. Create a new document

    2. Make a section break to the next page

    3. Write some text on both pages (not sure if needed)

    4. Remove the 'same as previous' link from the second sections header (not sure if needed)

    5. Write some text on both pages headers (not sure if needed)

    6. Switch the layout (page setup) of the second section to landscape

    7. Try to 'Print as PDF' and you will get 2 pdf files from one word file



    btw. this isn't fixed in Office 2004 SP1



    -Snowster
  • Reply 15 of 32
    iqatedoiqatedo Posts: 1,823member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Snowster

    I can confirm this behavior. I actually have a few files where this happens. I believe it has something to do with section and/or page breaks. It can be easily tested:



    1. Create a new document

    2. Make a section break to the next page

    3. Write some text on both pages (not sure if needed)

    4. Remove the 'same as previous' link from the second sections header (not sure if needed)

    5. Write some text on both pages headers (not sure if needed)

    6. Switch the layout (page setup) of the second section to landscape

    7. Try to 'Print as PDF' and you will get 2 pdf files from one word file



    btw. this isn't fixed in Office 2004 SP1



    -Snowster



    Hi Snowster



    So I am not going mad, you've seen it too. The problem relates to section and/or page breaks but it seems quite inconsistent. Sometimes I am able to fix the problem by reformatting the document but at other times I just give up!



    Thanks for your contribution!



    DavidH.
  • Reply 16 of 32
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    I can't explain why Word would do that... other than it surprises me not at all. Who's the publisher? Microsoft? Yup. No surprise.



    But I can help you with the PDF reordering:



    http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/20286



    I've done the PDFs and images into Word thing, and the results have never been good - either the quality of the images is destroyed when you finally print them out (Word wants to redo the images in its own format), or the file size is *horrendous*. Try the above little free app. It works great.
  • Reply 17 of 32
    live4everlive4ever Posts: 38member
    Use Monkeybread Software's Combine PDFs to add one PDF to another or reorder pages.



    Just be careful it will remove any password protection you put on your documents because it creates a new document from OS X's Quartz engine.
  • Reply 18 of 32
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    That would be the link I gave.
  • Reply 19 of 32
    snowstersnowster Posts: 68member
    One interesting thing is, that Microsoft is of course quick to tell us, that this actually is a problem with the 'print to pfd' function in Mac OS X. Would be ok I guess, BUT the same effect is there if you really print the document. It will be sent to the printer que in 2 separated print jobs.



    Of course it could be a bug in the Mac OS X printing system... But I think it is Microsoft...



    -Snowster
  • Reply 20 of 32
    iqatedoiqatedo Posts: 1,823member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Snowster

    One interesting thing is, that Microsoft is of course quick to tell us, that this actually is a problem with the 'print to pfd' function in Mac OS X. Would be ok I guess, BUT the same effect is there if you really print the document. It will be sent to the printer que in 2 separated print jobs.



    Of course it could be a bug in the Mac OS X printing system... But I think it is Microsoft...



    -Snowster



    Hi all



    Thanks for the feedback and links. Be interesting to see if this problem can be invoked for other apps that print to multiple pages.



    All the best, DavidH.
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