PDF file displays different number of text blocks in Acrobat Pro CC 2014 and CS6 versions

Question

Hi,
I've inherited a file at work that displays different numbers of text blocks, depending on the version of Acrobat Pro used to view the file. Here's the specific issue:
As viewed in CC 2014:
"Chapter 1 - Chapter One Title": Appears as two text blocks -- one for "Chapter 1 - " and one for "Chapter One Title"
As viewed in CS 6:
"Chapter 1 - Chapter One Title": Appears as a single text block -- "Chapter 1 - Chapter One Title"
This occurs only with regard to single-digit chapter numbers that are whole numbers. So:
Chapter 1, Chapter 5, and Chapter 7 entries appear as two blocks in CC 2014, one block in CS6.
Chapter 2.0, Chapter 6.1, Chapter 10, entries appear in single blocks in both CC 2014 and CS6.
The PDF file was created -- I believe -- through the save-to-PDF feature in Word 2010.
Any idea what's happening here?
Thanks.
David

Answer 1

First of all, there is no such thing as Acrobat CS6 or Acrobat CC 2014. We assume you are referring to Acrobat X and Acrobat XI respectively.
Secondly, how are you determining how many text blocks are in the PDF file? By use of the text touchup/edit function in Acrobat? If so, how this edit function displays text doesn't necessarily correspond to the actually underlying text fragments in the PDF file. In fact, sometimes it combines fragments based on heuristics. Those heuristics have varied with different version of Acrobat.
PDF as a file format doesn't know the context of the graphical objects such as text. There is no concept of a line, a sentence, a paragraph, a column, etc. in terms of text. Runs of text are context-insensitive. You will get “breaks” when switching between regular and italics or when unusual paragraph justification is involved.
Is the actual problem in trying to edit the text or something else?
If you post a file, and indicate what text we should look at, we can confirm what is actually going on in your file.
          - Dov