How can a Word file change, when I haven´t done it?

[Stephen0352]

Hi, experts!


Here´s a real tricky one:
I made a PDF eBook 3 years ago, using a purchased font. The master Word file for this book has been kept in a folder ever since. It was made on a template of my own, but changes in this template will NOT interfere with previous made documents on the same template, since that button is not turned on. (I have made other documents since - using the same template).
SOMETHING - however - has changed in my masterfile, this I see now, when I open it, because I´m doing a revised version of it - after making af copy, of course. The font is still the same both in Word and in PDF file (embedded in PDF), but the Word masterfile is now 30 pages shorter than the PDF (the book has 264 pages). Nothing seems to be missing, the original masterfile hasn´t been edited. The font in the masterfile looks a bit 'compressed' compared to the PDF.

Since I created the masterfile in 2014 (in compatibility mode 97-2003), I´ve had all my documents moved to a new computer and have gone from Windows 7 to 10 (not a clean installation, but the free upgrade). I also went from Word 2010 to Word 2016, but have not noticed similar changes in other documents.
The PDF (and the fonts) has made the same 'journey' as the masterfile, so what could be an explanation for this strange behaviour??

[gmayor]

A likely explanation is that Word can only use fonts that the current printer driver is capable of printing. It may be that your purchased font is not compatible with the current printer driver or the way that it is configured, so Word will substitute a font of similar type from the available fonts that the driver is capable of printing. This might show the font as 'compressed' when compared to the original.

I think you need to start by investigating the installation and compatibility of your purchased font with the currently active printer driver.

[Stephen0352]

Thanks, 'gmayor'!
Only - here´s one more strange thing: as I mentioned, the masterfile opens up in Word 2016 showing 234 pages, while the PDF has 264 pages. When I print page 17 in the Word file, I get page 19 out in print, and this print is completely identical to the PDF´s page 19. So what I see in Word on my PC is a misrepresentation of what actually comes out in print!!
As far as I can see, this means that my printer IS capable of printing that specific font used in the masterfile.
And the problem is elsewhere.

[Charles Kenyon]

You likely have some "Odd-Page" section breaks. These are generally used to start a new chapter with a page on the right.

Sections / Headers and Footers in Microsoft Word (Ribbon Versions)

[Stephen0352]

Hi Charles, no I don´t think that is the problem. I don´t have these "ood-page" section breaks, it was an eBook, no left/right page problems.
But I have now discovered that the problem exist also in other of my Word documents that has been converted to PDF. I presume that a PDF file is fixed and nothing will change, that is the whole idea with PDF, right?, but in some Word files I now see that the line spacing is not the same as in the converted PDF file. The differences Word to PDF are like 1 to 1,25/ 1,15 to 1,33/1 to 1,24. This I have not noticed before when looking at those files, although it beats me when this problem came into my pc.

It is the Word files that look wrong og distorted in some way, not the PDFs, and these new discoveries for sure take focus off the purchased font I mentioned in my first post.

In spring 2015 I had a new computer and reinstalled the Office 365. The problem doesn´t seem to appear in Word documents created AFTER this point.
Finally I should add that some (not all) of the distorted Word files were created and saved in compatibility mode.

[Charles Kenyon]

My thought is that, although perplexing, this is a problem, why?
If it prints the same it should pdf the same. If you convert to PDF, your Word page 17 should come out as the pdf page 19. If you are using Word cross-references and ToC, they should resolve to the correct page number.

What happens if you change your default printer to Adobe's PDF driver? That may change the formatting of your Word document.

[Charles Kenyon]

I don't know that pdf files are "fixed," but they do not reflow text to fit a printer the way Word does. See What happens when I send my document to someone else? Will Word mess up my formatting?

The things that happen when you send your document to someone else also happen when you move it to a different computer system.

[Charles Kenyon]

but in some Word files I now see that the line spacing is not the same as in the converted PDF file. The differences Word to PDF are like 1 to 1,25/ 1,15 to 1,33/1 to 1,24.

This problem suggests to me that the box to update styles from template is checked in this document.

But then the pagination should not return to previous pagination when the document is printed.

If you want to attach part (like the first 20 pages) in Word and pdf format, we could look at it.
How to attach a screenshot or file in this forum.
Pay attention to the file size limits.

[Stephen0352]

One thing I´m sure of: the dangerous box to "update styles from template" is NOT ticked in any of the distorted documents.
The problem seems to narrow in to this: some (certainly not all) format details in the older documents are changed when displayed in my present version of Word.
Could this problem derive from the this one factor only: opening 97-2003 mode documents in Word 2016?? Sounds weird to me.

[Charles Kenyon]

Could this problem derive from the this one factor only: opening 97-2003 mode documents in Word 2016?? Sounds weird to me.

Not all that weird. There were fairly large changes made in the basic document structure in Word 2007 that have continued through to Word 2016 (the Ribbon versions).

One of the basic ones was changing the line spacing from single spacing to "Multiple 1.15."

Why this would only show up in the display but not the printing is very curious. Again, I suggest attaching some samples. If needed, you could fill with dummy text. The rand "virus": or how to insert dummy text into a document by Suzanne Barnhill

[Stephen0352]

OK, I will try to attach some samples. The maz. size of 500 Kb is not much, but I guess screen shots won´t do, since you cannot go 'behind the scenes' in a screenshot? I will try to make some excerpts to attach.

[Stephen0352]

I have attached a screenshot to start with.
Left you see the Word file and the section starting with "Historien om dette...". Right the PDF with the same section. The viewing size of the two docs is identical. The Word document was made october 2014 with Word 2010, and shortly after I changed to Word 2013. Now I have Word 2016. The PDF was converted with "Acrobat PDFMaker 11 for Word". Today I have Acrobat Pro DC 2015 (part of Adobe CC suite).

The PDF to the right presents the layout that the Word file originally had.

Differences now are these:
1. PDF is on page 4, the two photos + the text below them (you can see only one photo) are on page 3, so the 'missing' linebreak after the phototext does not show in PDF. Word is only on page 3, and the 'pressed' layout here would never have satisfied me. This is not what I made!
2. The linespacing in PDF is 1,24, in Word it is only 1 (single)! When I wrote the text in 2014, I couldn´t have chosen 1,24 as the linespacing, since only 1/1,15/1,5 etc. were available in Word 2010 (if I remember correctly).
3. The font in both is Arno Pro, a font synced from Adobe Creative Cloud/Typekit. This font I can use in Adobe programmes and in Office, but it does not show up in the 'Fonts' folder in the Control Panel. As you can see the font looks somewhat heavier in Word than in PDF, although both are regular 11pt.

[Stephen0352]

And here is sample no. 2:
Word doc left made with Word 2013, PDF right converted with Acrobat PDFMaker 11 for Word. The font used is Calisto MT a font from the Office programmes.

What I find interesting here is that although the line spacing in Word is 1,15 and in PDF 1,32 - the two files look identical! I cannot find any visible differences anywhere in the two documents.

Would the details of this compared to the previously posted screenshot indicate that the problem lies within the differences between Word 2010 and Word 2016??

Still - why doesn´t the distortion in the Word file from 'sample 1' show when printed???

[Charles Kenyon]

Still waiting for some real files. You may have to delete the pictures to make the file sizes.

[Stephen0352]

Ok, here we go again:
Attached here you find the two file-examples from post #12.
The Word file is now 'real' and reduced to three sections with two different fonts, Arno Pro and Calibri.
I could not manage to reduce the PDF to a size below 500Kb (despite having deleted everything but the three sections), so I took a screenshot.
The differences in line spacing are:
Arno Pro: Word 1 - PDF 1,23.
Calibri: Word 1,15 - PDF 1,40.

I have 'blurped' some of the names, in case other Danes look at this.