PDF Conversion Issues

How to Fix Unreadable Text When Converting PDF to Word

Ayan Masood Oct 19, 2026 868 views

Question details

The user is experiencing issues where text becomes garbled, unreadable, or doesn't match the original when converting a PDF file to a Word document.

How to Fix Unreadable Text When Converting PDF to Word

Product: PDF to Word Converter
Device & OS: Windows 7
Scenario: Converting a PDF document to a Word format for editing and text extraction.
Observed behavior: The resulting Word document contains unreadable text, incorrect characters, and mismatched uppercase/lowercase letters or numbers, making the file unusable.

Before you start

Open the original PDF file and check if you can select individual words with your cursor. If the text cannot be highlighted, the PDF is likely a scanned image, which requires OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to convert accurately.

Solution 1Recommended

Apply OCR (Optical Character Recognition) for Scanned PDFs

If your PDF was created from a scanner, standard conversion will fail to recognize the text. Applying OCR extracts the actual text from the document images.

Standard PDF to Word converters attempt to extract embedded text layers. When a document is scanned, there is no text layer—only a picture of text. An OCR tool scans this image, identifies the shapes of letters and numbers, and creates editable text.

Open your PDF editor

Launch your PDF conversion software or PDF editor and open the scanned document.

Enable the OCR feature

Locate and click on the 'OCR' or 'Recognize Text' tool, usually found in the Tools or Edit menu.

Configure language settings

In the OCR settings prompt, select the exact language of the document to ensure the engine correctly identifies special characters and formatting.

Convert to Word

Once the OCR process is complete, use the 'Export to Word' or 'Convert to DOCX' function to save your newly recognized text as an editable document.

Apply OCR (Optical Character Recognition) for Scanned PDFs

Low-Quality Scans: If the original scan is blurry or has poor contrast, the OCR accuracy will drop. Ensure your source PDF is scanned at a minimum of 300 DPI for best results.

Solution 2

Check and Resolve Font Embedding Issues

Unsupported, custom, or missing fonts in the original PDF can cause text to display as random symbols or unreadable characters after conversion.

WPS PDF Tools

Accurately Convert PDFs to Word with WPS Office

WPS Office features a powerful built-in PDF to Word converter equipped with advanced OCR technology. It seamlessly extracts text from scanned documents and preserves your original layout, ensuring your Word files are completely accurate and easy to edit.

1. Launch WPS Office: Open WPS Office and navigate to the 'PDF' tab on the home screen.
2. Select PDF to Word: Click on 'PDF to Word' from the toolkit and drag your PDF file into the conversion window.
3. Enable OCR: If converting a scanned file, ensure the OCR option is checked and select the correct document language.
4. Start Conversion: Click 'Convert' to instantly generate a highly accurate, editable Microsoft Word document.

Built-in OCR technology for highly accurate text and character recognitionPreserves the original document layout, images, and formattingFully compatible with Microsoft Word (.docx) format for seamless editingBatch conversion support to process multiple PDF files at once

microsoft office alternative - wps office

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my converted Word document show strange symbols instead of letters?

This usually happens when the original PDF uses custom or restricted fonts that are not installed on your computer. When converted, the software cannot map the characters correctly to your system fonts, resulting in strange symbols, boxes, or wingdings.

Can I fix a PDF conversion if the original document was a low-quality scan?

Low-quality scans often lead to inaccurate OCR results because the software cannot clearly distinguish the letters. To improve the output, try enhancing the contrast and brightness of the scanned image in an image editor before creating the PDF, or use a high-end PDF converter with advanced OCR capabilities.

Does converting a PDF to Word change the original document layout?

It can depend on the complexity of the PDF and the quality of the conversion tool used. Documents with complex tables, forms, or overlapping graphics might shift slightly during conversion. Using a dedicated PDF editor with strict formatting retention features will minimize these layout changes.

PDF Troubleshooting