Problems with text boxes and exporting PDFs after recent update (Word for Mac 2016)

Question

After a recent update to Microsoft Word (early August), I'm getting wacky problems with text from text boxes in PDFs exported from Microsoft Word for Mac 2016.

When I open Microsoft Word, everything looks and works correctly in text boxes. But when I export the document as a PDF (whether through Apple's print dialog box – Save as PDF – or going to "Save As..." and choosing PDF format)... the resulting PDF will have problems. It's not all text boxes... Some are fine. But other random text from text boxes will be randomly placed in other parts of the page in HUGE font size.

Beyond that... How can I report this problem to Microsoft? Or, how can I get back to an earlier version of Word? (I tried reinstalling from Time Machine with no success.)

HELP!

Answer 1

Hi

This is a bug in releases 16.16 and 16.17 that has been reported by many users here recently. Office for the Mac has undergone dramatic changes in Office 2016/365. Developers are trying hard to make the Mac and Windows versions have the same or equivalent features. They are making real progress. However, fixing one thing sometimes breaks others. Here is a Microsoft post from 8/22.

"We'd like to post a summary of the issue to help other community members easily see the information.

"Issue description

"Watermarks, Word Art, Texts inside Text Boxes and Images are enlarged when printed.

"Environment

"This issue occurs on Word 2016 for Mac version 16.16 and 16.17 (Insider).

"Additional Information

"This issue has been reported and is now under investigation. Updates will be posted when they become available.

"Workaround

"If this is affecting your work, we suggest reverting to a previous version of Office.

"Note: Before you decide to revert to an earlier version of Office, you should weigh the severity of the issue that you're experiencing against the benefits of having the security, performance, and reliability improvements that are included in the latest update.

"1. Uninstall Office 2016 for Mac. [I recommend just Word.]

"2. Download an Installation Package of a previous version of Office 2016 for Mac." [I recommend just Word 16.15.]

You may be able to use the Mac Time Machine to roll back instead of the uninstall/install.

Otherwise, to do that, you’ll need to uninstall the current version, download the old version, and install it.

Here are the instructions on how to uninstall for Mac:

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/uninst...

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/troubl...

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\\\ Uninstall Word, only, not all of Office for this!

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Here is the link to install the latest stable version:

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Update...

Here is a link to allow you to choose an earlier update release:

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/how-to...

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Here is a link to UserVoice to let the developers know what is causing you problems:

https://word.uservoice.com/forums/304942-word-f...

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A central thread addressing this has been set up on the forum. You may want to check it periodically for updates.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/fo...

I hope this information helps. Please let me know if you have any more questions or require further help.

Regards

Answer 2

You are welcome. Hang in there! They really are working on it.

Answer 3

Wow. Thank you so much!!! Super helpful!!