How to Fix Gibberish Text in PDF When Copying It [7 Fixes]

Part 1: What Is Gibberish Text/Garbled Text?

Gibberish text or garbled text means a string of meaningless or nonsensical characters, words, or phrases that don’t form a sentence. This can happen due to encoding errors, random typing, or intentional scrambling of words. Sometimes gibberish text appears when a computer or software can’t process a language or font and results in unreadable symbols and characters.

For example, a normal sentence like "Hello, how are you?" can turn into something like "H#@lo, h0w @re y0u?" due to corruption or incorrect encoding. Similarly, a keyboard smash like "asdkljfwienv" is also gibberish since it has no meaning. This type of text is common in spam messages, corrupted files, or when someone tests a system by entering random input.

This problem makes PDF documents unusable for editing or sharing. Knowing why this happens is the first step to solving it.

Part 2: Why Copied Text from PDF Is Gibberish?

Sometimes, when you copy text from a PDF, it becomes unreadable symbols or strange characters. This happens due to various reasons including how the PDF was created and the fonts used. Here are the most common causes:

• Encoding Issues: PDFs store text using different encoding methods. If the encoding doesn’t match your system’s settings the text may appear as gibberish when copied.
• Font Problems: Some PDFs use custom or embedded fonts that don’t translate well when copied. If the font data isn’t stored correctly the copied text may be unreadable.
• PDF Security Settings: Some PDFs have restrictions that prevent copying or editing. Even if you try to copy text, it might be scrambled or appear as symbols.
• Scanned PDFs (Image-Based PDFs): If the PDF was created by scanning a document, it doesn’t contain actual text-only images. You’ll need OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software to extract readable text.
• Corrupt or Damaged PDF File: If a PDF file is corrupted or not properly created, copying text from it may result in random characters.
• Hidden or Layered Text: Some PDFs have hidden layers where text is inaccessible. Copying from such files might grab the wrong layer and result in gibberish output.
• Non-Standard PDF Readers: Some PDF readers don’t interpret text correctly, causing issues when copying and pasting text to another program.

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Part 3: How to Fix Gibberish Text in PDF [6 Common Fixes]

When opening or copying text from a PDF, you may encounter gibberish text that is unreadable or impossible to edit. This issue can arise due to missing fonts, incorrect encoding or how the PDF was originally created. Below are 6 common fixes to resolve gibberish text in PDFs.

Fix 1: Check and Embed PDF Fonts

If you see garbled or gibberish text in a PDF, one possible cause is missing fonts. When a document is created using fonts that aren’t available in your system, Adobe Acrobat will substitute them with other fonts that may not display the text correctly. The solution is to check and embed the fonts in the PDF. Here’s how:

• Launch your PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro DC.

• Go to “File” and select “Properties”.

• Click on the Fonts tab and check if the fonts are embedded.

• Also, you can navigate to “Edit” > "Preferences" > “Page display” > “Use local fonts” under “Rendering” and then tap “OK” to check the if the PDF font works.

• If fonts are missing, go to "Tools" and pick “Optimize PDF” from the right panel.

• Later click on the “Preflight” tab and pick the “Select Single Fixups” > “Fix” to embed fonts.

• Restart Adobe Acrobat and open the PDF again.

  

Fix 2: Disable Document Fonts in Adobe PDF Printing Preferences

Another solution for garbled text in PDFs is to disable the document fonts in Adobe PDF printing preferences. This can sometimes solve the issue, especially when printing the PDF to a virtual printer like Adobe PDF.

• Open Adobe Acrobat Pro DC. Go to “File”, then “Print”, and select your printer.

• Click on “Printer Properties” or “Preferences”.

• In the preferences window, switch to the “Adobe PDF Settings” tab.

• Uncheck the option for "Rely on system fonts only; do not use document fonts."

• Click OK and then try printing the document again to see if the issue is resolved.

  

Fix 3: Use the Copy with Formatting Feature

Sometimes, copying text from a PDF can produce garbled results. In this case, try using the “Copy with Formatting” feature in Adobe Acrobat. This tool preserves the text structure and style, so it’s less likely to show up jumbled when pasted into another document. It’s a quick way to handle garbled text when copying and pasting.

• Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat Reader.

• Select the text you want to copy.

• Right-click and select “Copy with Formatting”.

• Paste into a text editor (e.g., Notepad or Word) to check.

  

Note:

This method is only feasible for small parts of PDF text.

Fix 4: OCR the Scanned PDF

If your PDF is scanned, the text might not be actual text but an image of text. Applying OCR (optical character recognition) converts those images into editable text. After OCR in a program like Adobe Acrobat, the text becomes searchable and selectable and often fixes garbled or nonsensical characters. This step is crucial for making scanned documents more user friendly.

• Open the scanned PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro.

• Click on "Tools" and select "Enhance Scans."

• Choose "Recognize Text" and select "In This File."

• Click "Recognize Text" and wait for the process to complete.

• Save the document and try copying the text again.

  

Fix 5: Convert PDF to Word

Another effective approach is converting the problematic PDF into a Word document. Many PDF readers and online tools offer conversion options. Once converted you can fix any text issues in Word and then save as PDF. This will be a lifesaver when other fixes don’t work, as you can manually fix any remaining formatting issues.

• On Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, click on "File," then select "Export To".

• Choose "Microsoft Word" or “Word...” and save the converted file.

• Open the Word document and check if the text appears correctly.

  

Fix 6: Use a Different PDF Reader

Sometimes, the issue is with the PDF reader itself. If Adobe Acrobat or your default viewer is showing gibberish text, try opening the file in other readers like Foxit Reader, SumatraPDF or Nitro PDF Reader. They handle fonts and encoding differently, which may fix the issue without modifying the document.

• Right-click on the PDF file, then select “Open with” and choose another PDF reader.

• If the text appears correctly, set the new reader as the default.

By following these 6 fixes, you should be able to fix most of the issues with gibberish text in PDFs. If none of these work, consider re-downloading the file or asking for a different version from the source.

Part 4: How to Fix Garbled Text in PDF [Best Way]

If you open a PDF file and find the text unreadable or full of weird symbols still after trying the above workarounds, it indicates that the PDF is corrupted or broken. This results in text gibberish text, encoding errors, or font compatibility problems.

You don’t have to struggle with complicated solutions but use a professional repairing tool - 4DDiG File Repair, which is a quick and easy way to fix gibberish text in PDF files. This tool is dedicated to fixing various documents (including PDF and text) that are showing gibberish or blank, corrupted, damaged, not opening, etc. It can restore clear and readable text while keeping the original formatting.

✨ Why Choose 4DDiG File Repair

• Fix unreadable, garbled, or missing text in PDF files.
• Deal with various scenarios: file is corrupted, damaged, not opening, showing blank content, displaying gibberish, and more.
• Work with PDF, Word, Exce, PPT, ZIP, EPUB, and other more document formats.
• Can repair batches of files at once, saving time.
• No technical skills required—just a few clicks to fix your files.
• No data loss or modification of original content.
• Uses advanced algorithms to recover data despite the corruption degree.、

✨ How to Repair Corrupted/Gibberish PDF with 4DDiG

Read on to see how to fix corrupted PDF files that shows gibberish when you copying text from it.

• Install and set up the 4DDiG File Rpair software. Head to the left “Corrupted File Repair” section and then “File Repair” from the main menu.

  

• You will be taken to a new screen. Click “Add Files” and upload the PDF coming with garbled text.

  

• Click “Repair All” at the bottom right to begin the process once the PDF files are uploaded. The tool will scan and fix the document automatically.

  

• Once the repair is complete, you can preview the fixed file. Click Save to download the corrected PDF.

  

That’s it! Your PDF should now display the text correctly. 4DDiG File Repair provides a hassle-free way to fix corrupted PDFs, saving you time and effort. Try it today and recover your important documents with ease.

Part 5: People Also Ask About Gibberish Text in PDF

Q1: Do you know any garbled text generator?

Yes, there are many online tools to generate garbled text, like Zalgo Text Generator, Glitch Text Generator and Unicode Scrambler. These tools add random characters and symbols to make the text distorted or unreadable. You can use them for fun, design or testing purposes.

Q2: How to copy text from a PDF that cannot be copied?

If a PDF is copy protected, you can try using an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) tool like Adobe Acrobat, Google Drive, or online OCR websites to extract text. Another method is to take a screenshot and use an image-to-text converter. If the file is locked, you can use a PDF unlocker tool to remove restrictions.

Q3: How to fix gibberish text on Chrome?

If Chrome is showing gibberish text try changing the encoding by going to "Settings" > "Advanced" > "Languages" and set the correct language. Clearing browser cache, updating Chrome or disabling unnecessary extensions can also help. If the issue persists try resetting Chrome settings.

Conclusion

If copying text from PDF results in gibberish text, the issue may be due to encoding problems, font issues, or security settings. This guide provided multiple solutions, from embedding fonts and using OCR to converting PDFs into editable formats. For the most reliable fix, we highly recommend using 4DDiG File Repair. It efficiently repairs corrupt PDFs, fixes text extraction errors, and restores text readability.

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