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How to fix PDF Text Box Formatting Glitch in Microsoft Edge

Ozair Peerally 80 Reputation points
2025-08-10T13:19:48.6433333+00:00

When filling in a PDF form in Microsoft Edge, text entered in a text box appears normal while typing. However, as soon as I click outside the text box, the text zooms in slightly and becomes bold, even though I did not change any formatting. This makes the document look inconsistent and unprofessional.

Additional Notes:

  • This happens consistently on multiple PDFs.
  • Edge version: [Version 139.0.3405.86]
  • OS: [Windows 11]
  • Clearing cache, disabling hardware acceleration, and testing other PDFs did not resolve the issue.

Please help me fix his.

Screenshot (556)

How it appears when clicking on the text box.

User's image

How it appears after clicking away from the text box.

Microsoft Edge | Read PDFs | Windows 11

Answer accepted by question author

  1. Mike Languein 200 Reputation points
    2025-08-13T16:32:59.1133333+00:00

    Got the fix:

    Type edge://flags in the address bar and press Enter. Search for the edge-new-pdf-viewer flag, then set it to Disabled. You'll be prompted to restart the browser and once it restarts, check if the problem is solved.

    I saw this on an different site and it worked for me and others.

    20+ people found this answer helpful.

5 additional answers

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  1. Ubaldo Brito 185 Reputation points
    2025-12-11T21:26:25.9233333+00:00

    The fix:

    Go to Edge Settings → Appearance.

    Scroll down to Fonts and set these 4 options as the same:

    Standard font: Arial

    Serif font: Arial

    Sans-serif font: Arial

    Fixed-width font: Arial

    (It only works with Arial.)

    Open edge://flags/ → click Reset all → restart Edge.

    Go back to Edge, open once again edge://flags/ → search for “New PDF viewer” → set it to Disabled → restart Edge again.

    That should fix the issue.

    6 people found this answer helpful.
  2. nathan ooi 5 Reputation points
    2025-12-15T16:40:31.11+00:00

    Here is my bulletproof solution, worked well for me for almost 3 months now

    1. Download 138 stable version to C:\Users\YOURNAME\Downloads\ https://msedge.sf.dl.delivery.mp.microsoft.com/filestreamingservice/files/426cace9-7674-439d-ad8e-4f9111907e9e/MicrosoftEdgeEnterpriseX64.msi
    2. In Admin PowerShell or CMD, run msiexec /i "C:\Users\YOURNAME\Downloads\MicrosoftEdgeEnterpriseX64.msi" ALLOWDOWNGRADE=1 and wait... might take a while, pay attention to your taskmgr, if you succeed, a new Edge icon should show (also note that, downgrading only works for different & lower version, otherwise the process will just get stuck)
    3. Immediately after, in Admin services.msc, disable:
      1. Microsoft Edge Elevation Service (MicrosoftEdgeElevationService)
      2. Microsoft Edge Update Service (edgeupdate)
      3. Microsoft Edge Update Service (edgeupdatem)
    4. Again, promptly, in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\EdgeUpdate folder
      1. Delete MicrosoftEdgeUpdate.exe, create a blank txt file, and rename it to MicrosoftEdgeUpdate.exe (remember the .exe extension!) <-- this will fool the auto updater forever, even Windows Update's
      2. For good measure, do the same to all .exe files with "MicrosoftEdgeUpdateXXX" names under the 1.3.199.11 folder (or whatever version yours may show)
    5. If you've done everything correctly, you'll get Version 138 Edge like a fresh install, the best part now is that the "About" page will always show a "catastrophic update error"! So these pesky, imbecilic new versions won't find their ways back to us!
    6. Since this is the stable, bug-free version, you don't even have disable the new pdf viewer anymore, hope this helped, ENJOY, and shame on you... Microsoft...

    1 person found this answer helpful.
  3. Virginia M 40,825 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2025-08-10T14:03:12.6+00:00

    Hello, I’m Virginia a fellow Windows user. I’m sorry to hear that you’re experiencing problems.

    It seems to be a returning bug as the same was reported here in 2020:

    https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/discussions/edgeinsiderdiscussions/pdf-text-deformed/1426504

    I’d also try turning off graphics acceleration:

    Click on the three dots>Settings>System & performance>Turn off use graphics acceleration. Then click restart.

    If that doesn’t work Then I would Ensure Edge is running the latest version, if you are then please report this as a bug - Windows key + F key.

    I would suggest using a free PDF editor until the problem has been fixed.

    1 person found this answer helpful.
  4. paulr0511 44,605 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2025-08-11T15:06:00.98+00:00

    Just to add to this as well as an alternative, you may also try to do a repair by going to Settings > Apps > Installed apps > Look for Microsoft Edge and then click on the 3 dots and click on Modify and then click on Repair. Another thing that you can check is by testing if this is also happening in Dev, Canary or Beta channels of Edge and you can install it separately by going to https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=2181066.

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