Trouble to convert Word document into PDF or read a PDF file

Word is not a PDF viewer. The latest Word versions 2013/365 will convert PDF files (that are convertible) to Word format but the format is hit or miss. To view PDF files open them in a PDF viewer of which Adobe Reader is the industry standard. Associate PDF files with Adobe Reader rather than Word to make this happen normally.

Office 365 is a payment scheme, not a version. I'm assuming you're on Windows running Office 2013:

1. In Word, choose FILE>Save As, then choose your save location.
2. In the Save as dialog, change the Save as type dropdown to PDF (*.pdf), then click on the Save button.

If the Word PDF output is not working well, you can try a repair:

1. In Windows, open Control Panel, then Programs, then Programs and Features.
2. Right-click on Microsoft Office 2013 and choose Change.
3. Choose Online Repair, then click on the Repair button.
4. Allow the repair to complete, restart Windows and test Word to see if Save As>PDF is giving better results.

If you can't get it to work, try downloading and installing the free PrimoPDF print driver: PrimoPDF Download. After it's installed, you choose it as a printer and create PDFs that way.

Word 2013 introduced a function where it can now open PDF files and sometimes provide editable text.  When I first heard about it I thought it was performing OCR, Optical Character Recognition. A feature where the program can recognize letters by their shape in an image / picture and convert them into individual character.

Unfortunately Word 2013 does NOT do OCR.  Instead it depends on a special PDF format that puts images and text into 2 separate "layers" in the file.   Word simply extracts the text layer and makes it editable.

You are all using the same model laptop, with presumably the same software image installed including the same printer drivers. Is there any chance there is something different about your computer, an additional unique tool, a different printer (for home use?) an additional Office "addin"?  You could be having some sort of weird software interaction unique to your computer.

Have you always had this problem, or did it work properly for a while and the start "messing up"?

I assume that it is safe to say that at some point during your problem you have rebooted your computer at least once or twice.  If you haven't, do that to start with.

First thing to try, start Word in "Safe Mode". This disables addins. There has been a history of carpy addins causing unexpectable problems since the day Office 2013 was released. This could be another one.

If that fixes the problem, you will have to disable addins until you find the culprit.

Next, try starting Windows in Safe mode. This disables windows addins.

http://www.7tutorials.com/5-ways-boot-safe-mode-windows-8-windows-81

If the problem persists, do an Office Repair

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Uninstall-Office-2016-Office-2013-or-Office-365-from-a-Windows-computer-9dd49b83-264a-477a-8fcc-2fdf5dbf61d8?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Uninstall-Office-2013-or-Office-365-from-a-Windows-computer-9dd49b83-264a-477a-f8fcc-2fdf5dbf61d8?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US – ‘new” uninstall 365/2013 page

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/wiki/office_365hp-office_install/repair-office-365-in-pictures/f09d64b7-cfcc-4d07-be0b-0c429682d01a?tm=1405256665011 Repair Office 365 in Pictures

(you may want IT to do the next 2 steps for you)

If that doesn't help, uninstall Office from the control panel then re-install Office. This type uninstall does not affect your customizations.

If that doesn't help, uninstall Office using the Fix IT tool in the earlier link, then re-install. This uninstall DOES delete everything including customizations like NORMAL.DOTM and I believe the Outlook PST file with your emails in it.

Finally, you may want to get IT to re-image your computer. Make sure you backup your personal files first.

Talk to your IT department. There is a tiny chance you have a different computer and that is causing your problem.  A few years back I was working on a project rolling out a few hundred new computers in the company.  We ordered them all at the same time so that they would all be identical.  But when we started getting them we quickly found that even in partial batches of 25-50 they had different components that required different drivers, like slightly different video cards with identical specs. We could not use a single image to load software on the computers.