File Format & Compatibility

Fix Word Table Border Breaks When Exporting to PDF

Bushra Parveen Sep 25, 2026 870 views

Question details

Vertical table borders in a Word document appear broken or overly faint after saving or exporting the file to a PDF format.

How to Fix Word Table Borders Breaking When Exporting to PDF

Product: Microsoft Word / PDF Viewers
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Exporting or saving a Word document containing structured tables into a PDF file.
Observed behavior: The resulting PDF displays broken, missing, or faint vertical lines on the table, despite the borders appearing perfectly continuous in the original Word document.

Before you start

Before altering your document, zoom in on the exported PDF to 200% or higher. If the borders reappear at a higher zoom level, the issue is merely a screen rendering artifact in your PDF viewer, and the file itself is intact.

Solution 1Recommended

Enable 'Enhance Thin Lines' in Adobe Acrobat

Adjusting your PDF viewer's display settings resolves visual glitches where thin table borders fail to render properly on the screen.

Often, the lines are not actually broken during the export process. Instead, the PDF reader struggles to display extremely thin lines at standard zoom levels. Enhancing thin line rendering forces the software to draw these borders more clearly.

Open Adobe Acrobat Preferences

Launch Adobe Acrobat, click on 'Edit' in the top menu bar, and select 'Preferences' from the drop-down list.

Navigate to Page Display

In the left-hand category pane of the Preferences window, select 'Page Display'.

Enable Line Enhancement

Under the 'Rendering' section, check the box next to 'Enhance thin lines'. Click 'OK' to save your changes and view your PDF again.

Enable 'Enhance Thin Lines' in Adobe Acrobat

Display Issue Fixed: If the lines now appear continuous, your document exported correctly and will print perfectly without requiring further changes in Word.

Solution 2

Use 'Print to PDF' Instead of 'Save As'

Generating the PDF through the system print driver instead of Word's native export engine often bypasses table formatting bugs.

Solution 3

Adjust Table and Cell Margins in Word

Expanding cell margins prevents text and cell boundaries from overlapping with the vertical borders during the PDF conversion.

Convert Documents to PDF Flawlessly with WPS Office

WPS Office features a highly optimized, built-in PDF conversion engine designed to perfectly preserve your table borders, formatting, and overall document layout without the rendering glitches commonly found in other word processors.

1. Open Your Document: Launch WPS Writer and open your .docx or .doc file containing the tables.
2. Access PDF Export: Click on the 'Menu' button in the top-left corner and select 'Export to PDF'.
3. Configure and Export: Choose your desired save path and output quality in the dialog box, then click 'Export' to generate a flawless PDF with intact borders.

Built-in Word to PDF converter with high-fidelity renderingFully compatible with Microsoft Office formats (.docx, .doc)Perfectly preserves complex table structures, borders, and marginsLightweight, fast, and completely free to use

microsoft office alternative - wps office

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do my table borders look completely fine in Word but disappear in the PDF?

This is typically caused by screen rendering limitations in PDF viewers rather than missing data. PDF software often struggles to display very thin lines (such as 0.25 pt or 0.5 pt) clearly on monitors at standard zoom levels, causing them to look broken or entirely invisible.

Does the line thickness of the Word table affect PDF export quality?

Yes. Extremely thin borders are highly prone to rendering issues when converted to PDF. Increasing the table border width to at least 0.5 pt or 1 pt in Word's 'Borders and Shading' menu usually ensures they display correctly across all PDF viewers.

Will opening the file in a different PDF viewer fix the broken borders?

Often, yes. Different PDF applications use different rendering engines to draw lines. A PDF that displays broken borders in a web browser like Chrome or Edge might look perfectly continuous in Adobe Acrobat or WPS PDF Reader.

What should I do if 'Print to PDF' changes my document's layout or page margins?

If printing to PDF alters your layout, return to the native export method. Go to 'File' > 'Export' > 'Create PDF/XPS Document', and ensure that 'Optimize for: Standard (publishing online and printing)' is selected before publishing.

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