Anyone use PDF files?

[ribol]

I am having problems editing PDF files, it may be due to the fact I only have Adobe Reader 6.0, can anyone shed any light on this:
I have two different PDF files, on one you can highlight text but when you try to "copy" it, it will not copy it to the clipboard and therefore cannot be pasted to anything. This document cannot be copied by using the select tool either. A duplicate document can be made no problem.
The second document cannot be highlighted in the first place so cannot be edited in any way. On this one however you can use the select tool and copy sections no problem, which cannot be done on the other document.

I am starting to think you must have Adobe Acrobat to edit PDF files, anyone know the answer?

New problem now see Saturday 11.36 post

Ivan

>>> Edited by ribol on Sunday 25th January 09:07

>>> Edited by ribol on Sunday 25th January 09:08

[PetrolTed]

Correct, you need Acrobat to edit PDFs.

[Podie]

Acrobat Writer to edit them...

or something like PDF995 to create them (but not edit)

[TT Tim]

Even if you have full blown Acrobat, you may find that the document is 'protected' and that youy won't be able to copy and paste anyway.

Tim

[ribol]

Thanks people, I should have guessed really. No doubt Adobe sell something that does it for £6843818.54

Ivan

[TT Tim]

What are you trying to do? Just strip out the text?

If so it it a sensitive document, and how long, I'll do it it it's not too time consumuing.

Tim

[ribol]

TT Tim said:

What are you trying to do? Just strip out the text? If so it it a sensitive document, and how long, I'll do it it it's not too time consumuing. Tim

Thanks for the offer in the spirit of PH, a mate of mine owes me a favour, the favour is now called Adobe Acrobat.

Ivan

[Thumper]

If you have Acrobat Distiller (the expensive part) you can specify levels of security on the document you create, and that seems to be the problem you've encountered. Produced, I guess, by two different sources, one has allowed you to strip out the text, the other has not.

There are other packages these days that can be used to create PDF files - I see Dream Direct have a cheapie in their current catalogue. Never used it, so can't vouch for how effective it may be.

PDF files can be opened in Photoshop, and you can extract graphics that way. If the author has prevented you from selecting the text, then can you print it out and use an OCR?

[ribol]

Thumper said:

PDF files can be opened in Photoshop, and you can extract graphics that way. If the author has prevented you from selecting the text, then can you print it out and use an OCR?

Tried the Photoshop route, it asks for a password! You are 100% right, the two documents have two different sources and the clever Adobe people have a way of stopping me doing what I wanted to. Will try with Acrobat when I get it and see if that helps. I have no faith in OCR, I have always had to correct too much of it to make it worthwhile.

Ivan

[ribol]

Ok, I now have Windows XP Home, Microsoft Office XP Professional and Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Professional all working fine apart from one thing.
I can right click on virtually any file type (e.g. xls, jpeg) go down to the “convert to Adobe PDF” option click on it and away it goes, job done. The only file type it will not work with is any “Microsoft Word” (.doc) ones. I can do it by going to print it and changing my printer from my Epson to my “Adobe PDF” printer and it works fine. When you use the “Create PDF from file” button in Acrobat and browse to it nothing doing, it just opens up the “Word” file in “Word.” A clue might be that it starts to go the right way in Acrobat, stops and then opens in “Word.”
Not the end of the world but am curious to know why, any ideas anyone?

Ivan

[JamieBeeston]

Ribdol,

I have a util that lets me edit pdf's in Word / save them into .docs.

If you want, I can run this on your pdf..

Its a beta I was involved in a while back for Scansoft. they sell this product now..

I have checked around, but cant find the install files but still have it on here if you need.

just email it to jamie@ anyofthedomainslistedinmyprofile

[ribol]

Thanks for the offer Jamie but in fact that side of things is not so much of a problem. The only problem I have is a straight conversion of a “Word” (.doc) document into a PDF using the Acrobat. As I said, I can do it by going down the PDF printer route but feel there must be something wrong somewhere to have to do it this way. The question is more out of curiosity than necessity.

Ivan

[Kurgis]

Try saving the word document as a .rtf (Rich Text File) then convert. RTF saves all formatting etc so the document should still look the same

[ribol]

Kurgis said:

Try saving the word document as a .rtf (Rich Text File) then convert. RTF saves all formatting etc so the document should still look the same

Tried that already, same thing happens! BTW have uninstalled Acrobat and Office, reinstalled both, no difference.

Ivan

[m-five]

I thought Acrobat put a special toolbar in MS Office apps solely for PDF creation - I know in my install I have a button in my top toolbar which is something like 'create PDF'.

[ribol]

m-five said:

I thought Acrobat put a special toolbar in MS Office apps solely for PDF creation - I know in my install I have a button in my top toolbar which is something like 'create PDF'.

Yes it should, it has done so in Excel but un-installing and re-installing both Word and Acrobat has made no difference. Definitely something wrong here.

Ivan