Word suddenly can't open pdf files

[rontiara]

Until recently, I've been able to open pdf files, modify them, and save them
as pdf all within Word. Suddenly I get an error message asking me to choose
the proper encoding. There is no "pdf" encoding in the list of options, and
no matter what else I choose, I get a HUGE file full of gibberish.

I'm running Win XP XP3. I have a fairly new machine, so I have plenty of
RAM and disk space.

Please help! I use this feature frequently for business and I'm in a real
bind!

Thanks.

 

[JoAnn Paules]

Word has never been able to open or modify .pdf files.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

As JoAnn says, Word's never been able to open PDFs, at least not in the sense
of opening them for normal document editing.

If you're very familiar with the innards of PDF, you might have been opening
them as text files, assuming they were saved as ascii, and editing bits that
way. It's possible to do that.

If they're saved as binary PDFs, a huge file full of gibberish is about what
I'd expect though.