PDF Conversion Issues

How to Fix Garbled Characters When Exporting PDF to Word

Bushra Parveen Oct 23, 2026 868 views

Question details

The user experiences encrypted-looking, unreadable, or garbled characters when attempting to export a PDF document to a Word file.

Product: PDF Converter
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Exporting or converting a standard PDF document into an editable Word document format.
Observed behavior: Instead of normal readable text, the exported Word document displays garbled, encrypted, or unusual symbol characters.

Before you start

Ensure that the text in the original PDF can be highlighted and copied normally. If the text copies as garbled characters directly from the PDF, the issue lies within the document's internal font encoding rather than the conversion tool.

Solution 1Recommended

Test with an Alternative Converter or Document

Determine if the issue is caused by unusual fonts or non-standard encoding specific to one PDF document.

PDFs created by specialized applications or browsers sometimes use custom font subsets. When standard converters try to map these subsets to Word fonts, the text becomes garbled. Isolating the issue helps determine the best course of action.

Test a standard document

Open a different, standard PDF file (preferably one containing basic text) and export it to Word to see if the issue persists across all files.

Use an alternative cloud converter

If only the original document fails, try converting the problematic PDF through a cloud-based service like Adobe Document Cloud or WPS Cloud, which may have broader font libraries.

Request source file recreation

If the cloud conversion also results in garbled text, the document's internal font dictionary is corrupted. You will need to ask the sender to recreate the PDF from the original source file using standard fonts.

Test with an Alternative Converter or Document

Missing Embedded Fonts: If the PDF uses a specific font that is not embedded in the file and not installed on your system, the converter may substitute it incorrectly, causing unreadable text.

Solution 2

Use OCR to Bypass Encoding Errors

Extract text visually using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to bypass damaged internal font encoding.

Professional PDF Tools

Convert PDF to Word Accurately with WPS Office

WPS Office offers a robust built-in PDF to Word converter equipped with advanced OCR technology. It handles complex fonts and layouts effortlessly, ensuring your documents retain their original formatting without garbled text or encoding errors.

1. Open WPS Office: Launch WPS Office and click on 'PDF' in the home screen to open your problematic document.
2. Select PDF to Word: Navigate to the 'Tools' tab on the top ribbon and click the 'PDF to Word' button.
3. Enable OCR: In the conversion dialog, choose your desired page range and ensure OCR is enabled if the document has encoding issues.
4. Convert and Edit: Click 'Start'. The document will be accurately converted and automatically opened as an editable Word file.

Advanced OCR technology accurately extracts text from scanned or poorly encoded PDFs.Seamlessly converts PDFs to fully editable Microsoft Word (.docx) formats.Maintains original document formatting, images, and tables perfectly.Lightweight, fast, and features a familiar user interface.

microsoft office alternative - wps office

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do PDFs turn into strange symbols when converting to Word?

This usually happens when the original PDF uses custom subset fonts or non-standard encoding that the PDF-to-Word converter cannot map to standard text characters. The converter sees the internal code but doesn't know which actual letter it represents.

Can I fix garbled text in an already converted Word document?

Unfortunately, once the text is garbled during the export process, it cannot be automatically unscrambled inside Microsoft Word. You must resolve the conversion issue using an OCR tool or a different PDF converter, and then export the file again.

Will installing new fonts fix the garbled characters issue?

Sometimes. If the original PDF relies on a specific font that wasn't embedded properly during its creation, installing that exact font on your computer before performing the conversion might help the converter map the characters correctly.

PDF Troubleshooting