Fix Thai Characters Garbled When Converting Word to PDF
Question details
The user needs a way to convert a Word document containing Thai text to PDF without the characters becoming corrupted or garbled.
- Product
- Microsoft Word
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Converting a document with Thai language text to PDF using the Adobe Acrobat PDFMaker add-in.
- Observed behavior
- Thai characters appear corrupted in the resulting PDF, while other Asian languages convert correctly, due to Thai not being listed in Acrobat's PDF language options.
Ensure that the Thai fonts used in your original document are fully installed on your system and allow font embedding to prevent the system from substituting unsupported fonts during conversion.
Use the Built-in Save As PDF Feature
Bypassing the Acrobat PDFMaker add-in and using the native export tool often preserves complex scripts like Thai perfectly.
The Acrobat PDFMaker add-in sometimes struggles with language encodings that are not explicitly listed in its language options. Using Microsoft Word's native PDF creation engine bypasses this plugin and ensures the document is rendered exactly as it appears on your screen.
Launch Microsoft Word and open the document containing the Thai characters.
Click on the 'File' tab in the top left corner of the application.
Click on 'Save As' from the left sidebar and choose your destination folder.
In the 'Save as type' dropdown menu, select 'PDF'.
Click the 'Save' button to generate the PDF and verify that the Thai text displays correctly.
Convert Word to PDF Flawlessly with WPS Office
WPS Office features a powerful, built-in Word-to-PDF converter that natively supports complex scripts and Thai characters without needing external plugins. It effortlessly preserves your document's layout and font formatting.
- 1. Open your Document in WPS Writer: Launch WPS Office and open your Word document containing the Thai text.
- 2. Access Export Options: Navigate to the 'Menu' or select the 'Tools' tab at the top of the interface.
- 3. Select Export to PDF: Click on the 'Export to PDF' button to open the conversion settings.
- 4. Export and Save: Confirm your save location and click 'Export' to generate a PDF with perfectly preserved Thai characters.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does PDFMaker scramble Thai text but not other Asian languages?
Adobe's PDFMaker relies on specific language packs and settings for font encoding. Because Thai is sometimes omitted from Acrobat's default language options, the add-in fails to interpret the font encoding correctly during conversion, resulting in garbled text.
Do I need to install special Thai fonts to fix this?
It is highly recommended to use standard, embeddable Thai fonts (such as Tahoma, Cordia New, or Angsana New). If you use a custom or restricted font that does not allow embedding, the PDF converter will substitute it with a default font, which may cause display errors.
Can I fix a PDF that already has garbled Thai text?
Unfortunately, once the text is corrupted during the PDF generation process, the data is lost and cannot be easily reversed or edited back into readable Thai. You will need to reconvert the original Word document using the native 'Save As PDF' method or WPS Office.
