Docx to pdf: that's weird

[french frank]

I'm just finishing a piece of work, about 70 pages with many images, in docx format. I wanted to convert it to a pdf in the usual way (Save As > pdf > Export) and a pop-up said Word couldn't save the file as a pdf as it was too big. Bit of scouting around, and I see all you have to do is choose Print rather than Save As, and when the Print dialogue box appears choose pdf and the option is Save rather than Print. First impression is that all the formatting has been preserved, so what is the basic difference is the conversion procedures?

[Richard Barrett]

I'm just finishing a piece of work, about 70 pages with many images, in docx format. I wanted to convert it to a pdf in the usual way (Save As > pdf > Export) and a pop-up said Word couldn't save the file as a pdf as it was too big. Bit of scouting around, and I see all you have to do is choose Print rather than Save As, and when the Print dialogue box appears choose pdf and the option is Save rather than Print. First impression is that all the formatting has been preserved, so what is the basic difference is the conversion procedures?

I believe the answer is that Word (when you choose Save As) and MacOS (when you choose Print) have their own conversion procedures, and Word for some (probably obsolete) reason puts a limit on the file size that can be converted.

[french frank]

I believe the answer is that Word (when you choose Save As) and MacOS (when you choose Print) have their own conversion procedures, and Word for some (probably obsolete) reason puts a limit on the file size that can be converted.

Could be it, thanks. The pop-up did specify that Word couldn't save it as a pdf (it didn't say 'But try MacOS instead'). I expect they've started sending that message so that I'll upgrade to Office 365

[Cockney Sparrow]

The web browser often supports creating a PDF (for web pages). But, as a Windows 7 user (soon to be Win10) at some point PDF creator became preferable for the browser in use and I still use that and works for MS Word as well (but I've not tried more than a few pages- its an option in the print dialogue box, alongside the physical printer etc).

https://www.pdfforge.org/pdfcreator

[Bryn]

Could be it, thanks. The pop-up did specify that Word couldn't save it as a pdf (it didn't say 'But try MacOS instead'). I expect they've started sending that message so that I'll upgrade to Office 365

Good that you found a 'workaround'. I wonder whether Open Office has a similar size limit to that in your version of Microsoft Office?

[french frank]

I wonder whether Open Office has a similar size limit to that in your version of Microsoft Office?

Just checked again, mine (Office 2016) has a limit of 40MB and my file was 47MB.

[french frank]

The web browser often supports creating a PDF (for web pages).

Looks as if I have that one sorted via the computer. I use https://www.investintech.com/prod_a2...cid=71k4_3pfqi to convert the other way, not always very successfully - depends on the pdf.

[Serial_Apologist]

Thanks Frenchie for a reminder. A friend recently sent me his book-to-hopefully-be of self-penned poems as a PDF for me to proof-read. Having done that I then tried unsuccessfully to send it him back via email. Why it wouldn't send I'm not sure - my computer whizz suggested it was because I was still waiting on Windows 10 to be installed, which has now been done. I must try again.

[Bryn]

Thanks Frenchie for a reminder. A friend recently sent me his book-to-hopefully-be of self-penned poems as a PDF for me to proof-read. Having done that I then tried unsuccessfully to send it him back via email. Why it wouldn't send I'm not sure - my computer whizz suggested it was because I was still waiting on Windows 10 to be installed, which has now been done. I must try again.

If that fails, use WeTransfer.com.

[Dave2002]

Looks as if I have that one sorted via the computer. I use https://www.investintech.com/prod_a2...cid=71k4_3pfqi to convert the other way, not always very successfully - depends on the pdf.

That of course goes via a web converter, so maybe not a good option for all texts - (privacy, rip-offs etc.). I think the Print to PDF suggestion is usually pretty good, though on some systems IIRC there may be slight (and confusing, differences) depending on what printer the OS thinks it's going to be targeted on. I'm not sure if PDF is supposed to be completely neutral about target printing devices, but implementations may differ.