How to Fix Gibberish Text When Copying PDF to InDesign
Question details
Users experience unreadable or garbled text when copying text from a PDF document and pasting it into Adobe InDesign.
- Product
- PDF, Adobe InDesign
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Copying text content from a PDF file to reuse or format within an Adobe InDesign layout.
- Observed behavior
- The pasted text appears as random gibberish or incorrect symbols because the source PDF uses custom or broken font encoding, even if the fonts are embedded.
Test copying text from a different PDF file to confirm whether the issue is isolated to a specific document's internal encoding or a broader clipboard error.
Regenerate the PDF with Correct Unicode Encoding
The most reliable solution is to recreate the PDF from its original source file using standard font encoding.
Gibberish text is primarily caused by improper character mapping during the initial PDF creation. Regenerating the file ensures the text is properly encoded as standard Unicode, which InDesign can read accurately.
Locate and open the original source document (e.g., Microsoft Word, Adobe Illustrator) that was used to create the problematic PDF.
Navigate to 'File' and select 'Export' or 'Save As', then choose PDF as the output format.
In the export options or preferences, ensure that font embedding is enabled and that standard Unicode encoding is applied.
Open the newly generated PDF, select the text you need, copy it, and paste it into your InDesign layout.
Add Tags to the PDF Document
Adding accessibility tags to a PDF can sometimes resolve custom font encoding issues by providing structural metadata.
Extract Text Accurately with WPS Office
Instead of copying directly from a problematic PDF, use WPS Office to convert your PDF to a Word document first. The advanced conversion engine often bypasses encoding errors, extracting clean text for your InDesign projects.
- 1. Open PDF in WPS Office: Launch WPS Office and open the PDF file containing the text you want to copy.
- 2. Convert to Word: Navigate to the 'Tools' tab on the top ribbon and select the 'PDF to Word' feature.
- 3. Extract and copy: Once the conversion is complete, open the new Word document, highlight the properly encoded text, and copy it.
- 4. Paste into InDesign: Switch to Adobe InDesign and paste the clean text directly into your layout.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does text look like gibberish when copied from a PDF?
This happens when the PDF uses a custom font encoding rather than standard Unicode. The PDF viewer knows how to draw the visual shapes (glyphs) of the letters, but it lacks the underlying data mapping them to actual text characters on your clipboard.
Will installing the missing font in InDesign fix the gibberish text?
Usually, no. The gibberish is caused by broken underlying character mapping within the PDF itself, not by a lack of installed fonts on your computer.
Can I fix a PDF's font encoding without the original source file?
It can be difficult. You can try adding accessibility tags using an advanced PDF editor. If that fails, your best workaround is to use an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) tool to scan the document and convert the visual text into fresh, editable characters.
