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Word 2013 won't display any inserted PDF files

Anonymous
2015-04-25T23:21:39+00:00

I'm trying to insert a PDF into a Word document. I'm following the instructions given here:

https://support.office.com/en-ca/article/Add-a-PDF-to-a-document-9a293b43-45de-4ad2-a0b7-55a734cf6458

"Display as icon" is not checked, but all that ever shows up in my document is an icon for the file. I've tried with several different PDF files, and always get the same result.

Any ideas on what might cause that or how I can get a PDF to display as an image/preview rather than an icon?

(Converting from PDF to some other image format is not a good solution--I'm looking to use the functionality described in the article linked above.)

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. John Korchok 231.4K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2015-04-26T18:02:45+00:00

    In your original post, you had a link illustrating your preferred technique. On that page it says:

    "Double-click the PDF object in your document to open and view it in your default PDF reader." So you're getting all the functionality you're going to from that route.

    You can get a normal display of a PDF page by following these steps:

    1. In Reader, set your page you want ti to appear in your document. The whole page does not have to be visible on-screen.
    2. Choose Edit>Take a snapshot.
    3. Click and drag on the PDF page, drawing a box selecting the area you want to appear. If the page is larger than you screen, keep holding the mouse button while dragging. The window will scroll and eventually include the entire page.
    4. Let go of the mouse button. The Reader screen will flash, indicating that it has captured the page to the clipboard.
    5. Open Windows Paint.
    6. Paste the page image in.
    7. Save as a jpg or png format image.
    8. Insert the image in Word.

    10 people found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2015-04-26T04:51:33+00:00

    Do you have Adobe Reader (or Acrobat) installed? If you have either configured as the default PDF application, then Insert > Object > Object > Create from File > Browse to and pick the PDF. The first page of the PDF (an Adobe object) should be inserted . Note as objects cannot cross page boundaries, only the first page can be inserted.

    5 people found this answer helpful.
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  3. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 322.9K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-04-25T23:56:41+00:00

    Have you tried using File>Open to open the pdf file?

    3 people found this answer helpful.
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  4. Anonymous
    2015-05-05T12:05:53+00:00

    Unfortunately, I'm experiencing this issue on a fresh install of Office. I've also done a repair, but that didn't make any difference.

    So it doesn't seem like file corruption is the issue...

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  5. Anonymous
    2015-04-27T11:49:05+00:00

    Step 4 in the instructions says:

    "In the Object dialog box, check Display as icon if you only want to display the PDF icon in your document. Leave it unchecked to display the first page of the PDF."

    You're claiming that "display the first page of the PDF" doesn't actually work?

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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