Selecting text in pdf is full of gaps

Does anyone have this problem? It is with multiple pdfs. It works correctly when I open the pdf with Acrobat

Welcome @Kbob
Did you try opening this file in Preview to see if the result is the same?

PS: You cannot compare the results in Acrobat to other PDF applications. Adobe created the PDF standard and does many things other PDF apps can’t do.

I have sometimes found that running an already OCR’ed PDF through OCR can sort out these kind of issues. But I’d also concur that Adobe often displays things differently from everything else that uses the native Mac libraries.

The problem was also with Preview. Any suggestions on how to fix this?

Try to open and save a copy in Preview if that helps. If not, that’s just how Acrobat/Adobe does not stick to a standard.