You converted from Word to PDF or DOCX, and the result is mangled. Fonts wrong, layout broken, images missing.
What's actually going wrong
Bad converters produce bad PDFs. Common issues: fonts not embedded, layout reflowed wrong, images not transferred, encoding errors.
The fix is either redo the conversion with a better tool, or rebuild from what's visible in the broken file.
The quick fix
Try the conversion again with Flint's converter — better preservation of fonts, layout, and structure than most tools. The new file usually fixes what the previous conversion broke.
If the source is gone and you only have the broken PDF, convert to Word using OCR. This reads visible content regardless of underlying brokenness, producing clean Word output you can review and re-export.
If that didn't work
For PDFs where the visible content is also damaged (not just the underlying structure), source recovery is needed. Get a fresh source document.
For partial recovery — extracting whatever's salvageable — convert PDF to JPG captures whatever the broken PDF can display. Even partial pages contain content you can rebuild from.
Prevent it next time
Use reliable converters from the start. Keep source files alongside conversions. And verify converted output by opening and reviewing before treating the conversion as final.
FAQ
Why does conversion break PDFs?
Format translation involves interpretation. Different converters interpret edge cases differently. Bad converters fail on complex features; good ones preserve more.
Can I undo a conversion?
Not really. Conversion is one-way. Keep the source file so you can redo from clean source if conversion goes wrong.
Is conversion ever lossless?
PDF to PDF, yes (basically copying). Across formats (PDF to Word), no — formats represent content differently and some translation is always involved.
How do I avoid this in future?
Use Flint's converter which preserves layout and structure carefully. Keep source files. And test conversions before treating them as final.
Conversion damage isn't terminal. Reconvert in Flint and most files come back clean.