Im having problems formatting my MS Word doc to fit PDF format for publishing

[ken74]

It's just like the title says...Im having a serious problem (to me) formatting the MS Word version of my book to fit the PDF format required for publishing. 

Here's the issue...when I download & view my book in PDF format before finalizing the publishing process, all the pages line up perfectly for the first half of the book, but then, the last few sentences at the bottom of pg 69 spill over onto the top of pg 70 and throws the rest of the pages for the rest of the book (120pgs) off!  When I go back to the MS Word doc to try and correct the spill overs, there's nothing wrong!  Everything lines up through the entire book, but as soon as I go through the publishing process, and get back to viewing the PDF format version, its still screwed up and there's no way to edit anything in PDF format, at least I haven't found one!!

I've tried everything!! And this is really frustating the hell out of me (that's putting it nicely).  Im very new here, and just published my book at the beginning of the week, and anxiously ordered two copies that I now know will be screwed up because I wasn't aware of this problem then, I'm also anxious to make my first published book ready for purchasing, but I want it to be right!  I don't have the funds required to allow Lulu.com to format the book for me, so please help ASAP!!  Thanks!

[Maggie]

Can you provide some more detailed information please? What size is your document, your book? Are you making an ebook (epub) or print book? Are you using the converter?

[ken74]

The file size is 6278KB, its a print book, and I'm not sure how or where to find and use the converter, a friend mentioned the converter to me also, but he wasn't sure where to find it either. I hope this info helps, if you need anything else, just let me know. I appreciate the help.

[ken74]

Please ignore the file size in my first reply, it was a typo, the file size is 628KB

[Peter May]

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ken74 wrote:

 ...Im having a serious problem (to me) formatting the MS Word version of my book to fit the PDF format required for publishing. 

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When Maggie was asking about size she meant the page size.

Your MS Word document must be the same size as the resulting PDF.

If you are producing a 6*9 PDFfor a 6*9 book then your source Word doc should be 6*9.

If your book goes funny part the way through it could be  becuase you have started a new section with a section break and that section has different page size settings to the first, parhaps the margins.

Try using Page Layout>Page Setup to compare the setting of page size and margins.

[David-K]

Hello Ken74,

If you are attempting to insert your word document into the publishing wizard and have it converted into a print-ready file, that is using the converter. If your resulting pdf does not look the same as your word doc, try saving the doc in word as a pdf with embedded fonts. Then you can take that pdf file and upload it into a book project of the same size. As Peter mentioned, you must make sure your pdf has the same dimensions as the book you wish to publish (ex: 6x9), otherwise it will shift the contents of the document.

Try saving your file in word as a pdf using these instructions:
Navigate to File > Save As. In the "Save as Type" drop down box select PDF. Next click on the "Options" box. Under PDF Options check the box next to " ISO 19005-1 Compliant (PDF/A). Click OK and save the PDF. This should export a PDF with embedded fonts.

please visit this link for a visual representation:
http://connect.lulu.com/t5/Interior-Formatting/How-do-I-embed-fonts-in-a-PDF/ta-p/33148

I hope this helps.

Kind Regards,

David K.

[ken74]

Hello David,

I just got home from work, and immediately saw your post, but was unable to follow your advice & help because my "Save as type" drop down box, does not have a PDF option to select. Do you know why this may be? Isn't there something else that can be done? 

[ken74]

Peter May,

Now that sound's highly possible!  The page size is 8.5x11, but I slightly changed the right margin because I was trying to go by Lulu's PDF template, and I thought I had to change it. But isn't the default setting for MS Word 8.5x11? I'll try changing the page size to 8.5x11 and see if that works.  Thanks a lot!  I think you may have hit it on the nose!  I'll let you know how it works out!  Thanks again!