Over here the formatting looks fine. Tabs are correct, spaces are where they should be, etc. Over there the formatting is all out. We've all seen it before. Your once perfectly constructed document is now a sea of confusion.
Once opened in Google Docs, click the “File” menu within GDocs and choose “Download as” followed by “Microsoft Word 97-2003 (.doc)” to convert the origin file to a DOC The converted PDF file will download as a new DOC file from the browser. Part 1: The Best Google Docs PDF to Word Converter Alternative PDFelement Pro for Mac - The Best Tool to Convert PDF to Word. While Google Docs is the easiest way to convert your PDF documents to word, there are other alternatives available. The PDF file is converted to a Google Doc containing editable text. Notice that the Google Docs version of the file still has the.pdf extension on it, so the files have the same name in the list. But when I open a.PDF which I've previously saved to Google Drive, the browser uses Google Docs' viewer, even though I'm not converting the.PDFs to Docs' format when I download them. I've tried to find a Drive-compatible Google Apps version of Acrobat but there doesn't seem to be one.
Was I naive to think that such formatting issues would disappear 'in the cloud' so to speak? Shouldn't the way the text is displayed be OS/browser agnostic?
In any case, is there a way I can get my shared Google Docs document to appear the same way at both sites?
boehjboehj
3 Answers
It's a big problem with Google docs. The new version that the Google Apps team released last week is better with formatting, but for printing purposes, I usually just export to a Word doc and work from that.
Google Docs Download As Pdf Formatting Issues In Firefox
S. JohnsonS. Johnson
I realize this question is nearly 5-years-old, but since the problem still persists in Google Docs, I'll share the solution that works for me. Simply, use the “print” feature within the Chrome browser.
Rather than exporting to a PDF within Google Docs, click on the menu button in Chrome and select print. Change the destination to “save as PDF.” Formatting with this feature should be preserved.
HarrisonHarrison
If the other person your sharing with is just printing and not working on the document, your best bet is exporting as a PDF. Your formatting will be maintained for the print.
YakatUbYakatUb
protected by Community♦Mar 7 '16 at 13:57
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Google Docs is convenient, cheap, and compatible with just about any platform, making collaboration incredibly simple. It’s also infuriating, incomplete, and limited. Google Docs wafts in the cloud, just beyond your tinkering fingertips, and you’re at the whim of the Google engineers who control the tweaks, fixes, and enhancements.
Since launching Google Spreadsheets in 2006, Google has steadily improved Docs to support complex text documents, worksheets, tables, forms, and presentations. You might have to wait for its software wizards to make the big changes, but you can still apply a few workarounds and hidden features. Want to trim the number of Google Docs browser tabs? Compensate for the lack of a guided spelling checker? Create shortcuts for frequently used text? To make your overall editing experience a bit better, read on; we also offer some tips that you can use with Google’s spreadsheet and presentation applications.
(Editor’s note: This is the first part of an ongoing series covering fixes for Google Docs annoyances. In this first edition, we tackle the Google Docs text editor.)
1. Manage repeated text
Desktop text editors can use plug-ins and utilities, such as TextExpander for macOS and iOS, to autocomplete frequently repeated words and phrases, such as your professional title or an oft-used line of HTML. If you want to move your text editing to the cloud, Google Docs provides a similar—but limited—function.
Let’s say you’re a teacher who constantly writes “Needs more explanation” in your students’ papers. To save time, go to Tools, Preferences from inside a text document in Google Docs. In the pop-up window that appears, under ‘Automatic substitution’, type nme below the ‘Replace’ heading and Needs more explanation below the ‘With’ heading. Next, click OK.
Back in your document, type nme and press the spacebar: You should see “Needs more explanation” appear automatically. If it doesn’t work, go back to Tools, Preferences to make sure that ‘Automatic substitution’ is checked. Try to choose substitutions that are short and use unique letter combinations, so that Google Docs won’t mistakenly overwrite a desired word with a substitution.
Substitution settings are universal, so your canned text will be available to you in any text document in Google Docs. One limitation to this feature is that Google Docs inserts an automatic substitution only as a single line of text, so full signature blocks are beyond its capacity—for now.
2. View plain text files
If you prefer to use plain desktop text editors such as Emacs, Gedit, Notepad, or Vim, you may find that files created in those apps won’t display in Google Docs. Instead, you’ll be greeted by something similar to the smiling image here. This happens when you upload a text file with a filename extension that Google Docs can’t recognize (such as .sh for Bash scripting files), or when your plain text file lacks an extension entirely. Before you upload a plain text file to Google Docs, right-click the file and select Rename, and then add the .txt filename extension to the end. Now you’ll have no problem reading your document in Google Docs.
3. Simulate a guided spelling checker
Google Doc Formatting Issues
Unlike most other text editors, Google Docs has no formal spelling check process and instead checks your spelling on the fly, as many webmail programs do. If you see a word with a red underline beneath it, you can right-click it to view spelling alternatives.
That technique works, but it isn’t as good as a guided program that flags all of your potential spelling mistakes one by one. To make Google Docs guide you through all of your typos and errors, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-; to go to the next misspelling in your document and Ctrl-[ to see the previous one.
4. Claim more real estate
Google Docs wastes valuable screen real estate by surrounding the menu and toolbars with big empty spaces. That extra space, added to your browser’s window dressing (called “browser chrome”), leaves you with less usable room to get your work done. To improve this layout disaster, press Ctrl-Shift-F from inside a document. This feature reduces the menu-bar size for text documents, drawings, spreadsheets, and presentations.
Keep in mind that you must set this preference for every separate document type. So if you set compact controls in text documents, for instance, your spreadsheets will not use this layout until you also set it in the spreadsheet editor.
If you want even more space, try viewing your documents in full screen (found in the View menu). This setting does not expand into your full display size, but it does take over your entire browser tab and hide all of your Google Docs menus and toolbars. Full screen is a good choice for keyboard shortcut users. Setting a document to full screen is not a permanent preference, however; you must enable it every time you open a document.
Save Google Doc As Pdf
5. Turn off notifications
Google Docs Download As Pdf Formatting Issues Free
Are you collaborating on an online document, but going nuts due to the constant email notifications from the project? You’re not alone. Reacting to user frustrations expressed in several Google Docs discussion threads, Google created a feature that lets you stop email notifications on a per-document basis.
Google Docs Formatting Problems
To stop email notifications, open the offending document, click the Comments icon at the upper right of the screen, then Notifications, and select the option of your choosing: to receive All, Only yours, or None.