Word won't save documents as PDF files

Question

Word will not open .pdf files or 'save as' .doc files to .pdf

Answer 1

Please try running an Office Repair. The Online Repair option is more thorough.

Answer 2

Use the built-in PDF export in Word and, if that fails, apply the documented workarounds.

1. Try exporting to PDF via Export
   1. In Word, open the .doc or .docx file.
   2. Go to File > Export > Create PDF/XPS Document > Create PDF/XPS.
   3. Choose a save location (for example, OneDrive or a local folder).
   4. Optionally select Options... to adjust settings, then select Publish.
2. If you see an error like “Export failed due to an unexpected error” This can occur in Word 2016 when, for example, the Table of Contents page has a different orientation than the rest of the document. Use one of these workarounds:
   • Go to File > Print and choose Microsoft Print to PDF as the printer, then print to a PDF file.
   • Upload the document to OneDrive, open it in Word for the web, then select File > Save As > Download as PDF.
   • Use a third-party PDF converter that installs as a printer and print to that PDF printer.
3. If saving to an online location produces a .docx instead of .pdf (Mac) On Word for Microsoft 365 for Mac / Word 2024 for Mac / Word 2021 for Mac, saving as PDF to an online location like OneDrive can incorrectly save as .docx. Workarounds:
   • Manually rename the file extension from .docx to .pdf after saving.
   • Change the save location to a local folder, save as PDF there, then move the PDF to OneDrive.
4. If Word will not open PDF files
   • Word can open PDFs and convert them to editable Word documents on supported desktop versions. Use File > Open, browse to the PDF, and open it. Word will convert a copy for editing; the original PDF is unchanged.
   • If PDFs do not display correctly when opened in Word, open them in a dedicated PDF viewer such as Acrobat Reader for accurate viewing, and only use Word when editing or converting is required.

If the problem started after installing or updating Adobe Acrobat and Word is failing to save or showing errors, remove or disable the Adobe PDFMaker add-in as described in the referenced article, noting that this disables Adobe’s PDF integration but does not affect Word’s built-in Export to PDF.

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References:

• Edit a PDF
• Export to PDF error in Word 2016: "Export failed due to an unexpected error"
• Word document save as a PDF to an online location is changed to .docx
• Word does not save changes or you receive an error message in an Office program after you install Adobe Acrobat 7.0
• Microsoft 365 issue opening .pdf - Microsoft Q&A