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MacBandit
May 23, 2003, 03:46 PM
I'm looking for someone with the full version of Acrobat to do me a small favor. I have a PDF form I filled out for a State job. Well I couldn't save it so I printed to PDF. Now I want to use some of what I wrote to modify my existing Resumé and to submit another application to a Federal job. I can not copy and paste from the document though. If someone has the full version of Acrobat I believe they could and I just need a few pages copied into a text document so I can use the text I wrote.

Anyone out there willing to help me?


deryk
May 23, 2003, 04:16 PM
Hi,

I'd be more than willing to help out. I had the same problem when I applied for my current state job. I have the full version at work and will only be here for another hour, so PM to get this started.

Deryk
WinterMute
May 23, 2003, 04:30 PM
I've got it on the PB, I'll be on the boards today and tomorrow, PM me if deryk went home...:D
MacBandit
May 23, 2003, 06:07 PM
Just to let everyone know this problem is still persisting. So far no one has been able to pull the text out of the file that I have.
rainman::|:|
May 23, 2003, 06:30 PM
I thought PDFs were secure, so you couldn't get text or images out.

You may need to use a resource editor..

pnw
MacBandit
May 23, 2003, 06:39 PM
Originally posted by paulwhannel
I thought PDFs were secure, so you couldn't get text or images out.

You may need to use a resource editor..

pnw

How could I do that? Also is there a way I could get the raw text out of it using the terminal?

I'm really sick of retyping this. Long story short but what I have saved in this PDF I have retyped at least 5 times because once it's saved it is not editable. Also PDF doesn't let me spell check so a couple times I've retyed it to simply correct a mispelled word or two.
VegetaPunk
May 23, 2003, 09:49 PM
you can use a program called pitstop too....
Freg3000
May 23, 2003, 10:11 PM
Does anyone here have the new version, Adobe Acobat 6? I just wanted to know if anything major was different from version 5.
Sun Baked
May 23, 2003, 10:35 PM
I usually just use Acrobat Reader to copy the text and graphics from the pdf files.

If the text isn't secure and/or turned into picture you can usually copy/paste the text by using the "text select" tool in Reader.

Of course if you look at the document properties and see no security and still can't select any text... :(
SumDumGuy
May 23, 2003, 10:44 PM
MacBandit, send it to me and I'll be happy to do it for ya.
MacBandit
May 23, 2003, 10:52 PM
Originally posted by VegetaPunk
you can use a program called pitstop too....

Well does anyone have that and are willing to try it.

In any case I am retyping it now. It shouldn't take too long I was just really really fed up with retyping it. I'm getting smart this time and will put it into an Appleworks document though so I can edit the text and I can just copy and paste it from there into the job apps I'm filling out.
deryk
May 24, 2003, 11:46 AM
Originally posted by Sun Baked
I usually just use Acrobat Reader to copy the text and graphics from the pdf files.

If the text isn't secure and/or turned into picture you can usually copy/paste the text by using the "text select" tool in Reader.

Of course if you look at the document properties and see no security and still can't select any text... :(

I was unable to get his text into a copyable file. I think his text was turned into pictures. because that was the only way I could export it from Adobe. However, that doesn't help MacBandit.
Coroner
May 24, 2003, 12:47 PM
Why did not you try to convert it by OCR?
It'd have been possible by printing it, or by using the text converted to image, just with a passage through tiff.
jelloshotsrule
May 24, 2003, 01:14 PM
my experiences with OCR have been shaky at best... of course, this was 4 years ago... also, not everyone has OCR software...

i think bandit ended up with the best solution given the circumstances... retyping into something savable.
WinterMute
May 24, 2003, 01:24 PM
I managed to export to jpg and postscript, the OCR route would work for the jpg, and there is a way to extract text from a postscript file if you have the editors, which I don't.

The pdf is "fixed", much like flattening a photoshop image. You can only edit text/images in a pdf that is "active" (I think thats the term). Once the pdf has been exported it is a series of images, not editable text.

If it was pages and pages of text, the OCR route would work, but as MacBandit notes, it's probably easier to retype.

If there is anyone who knows how to extract text from a pdf let me know, it'd be really useful.
jelloshotsrule
May 24, 2003, 01:26 PM
what is the current hot OCR software? is there free stuff that's worth anything?

i guess i assumed that the good OCR stuff was still pretty pricy
SumDumGuy
May 24, 2003, 01:40 PM
The best OCR software I've found is OmniPage Pro X. It can scan images, PDF's and other files and do a pretty good job of getting the text out of them.

The bad part is the price...around $475 with academic discount!
Coroner
May 24, 2003, 02:50 PM
If it is impossible to extract the text, a workaround is snapping the screen; if you enlarge the font dimension to a 4x vision, then what you may obtain is more or less a 280dpi image, usually enough for OCR. You may take more than one shot of the screen and paste them all together in a tiff file.
Of course, that takes time; it is worth only if the text is really a lot.

I agree in considering OmniPage Pro X as the best OCR software around; I use it with an Epson 1640 SU with sheet feeder.
However, this software is not stable with OS X and the application crashes frequently - in my experience, OCR is a field where OS X gives a dismal performance.
GeeYouEye
May 25, 2003, 12:23 AM
Get it into a jpeg or similar, at as high a resolution as you can, then open it as a drawing or painting document in AppleWorks. Add text boxes where applicable, export back to jpeg (if necessary), and from there use preview to get it back to PDF. Not the easiest route, but it's cheap (free if you already have AW) and it works.
MacBandit
May 27, 2003, 01:12 AM
Hey thanks everyone but I did retype it last week as I said I was. I didn't want to cause a hassle I just thought that I wasn't able to get the text as I had reader only. Once I realized that wasn't possible I just hunkered down and retyped it. It probably took about a half hour to actually retype it but I then did some editing and adding and some other stuff too.

As I said before it wasn't a matter of it being a lot to type (maybe a page total) it was just that I was sick of retyping it. I had retyped it a couple times because I found errors in the uneditable document and like an idiot retyped it in an uneditable document. So I finally got smart and retyped it into an AppleWorks text file and will just copy and paste my text from there into any future job app I have.

Thanks for all of your help.
Mudbug
Jun 4, 2003, 11:29 PM
As usual, I'm late.
Along the lines of your AW fixit, I'd put it either into Quark or ID as the background image, and put type over the top. Or your next option, open the pdf into Illustrator or Freehand (or something similar) and extract from there. Either way you do it, I'd save that page layout with the text boxes or placements, so that the next time you've got one of these weird PDF's, you can place, move the relevant type, and export the PDF again. Not neat and tidy, but it will get you from point A to point B.
MacBandit
Jun 5, 2003, 01:35 AM
Originally posted by Mudbug
As usual, I'm late.
Along the lines of your AW fixit, I'd put it either into Quark or ID as the background image, and put type over the top. Or your next option, open the pdf into Illustrator or Freehand (or something similar) and extract from there. Either way you do it, I'd save that page layout with the text boxes or placements, so that the next time you've got one of these weird PDF's, you can place, move the relevant type, and export the PDF again. Not neat and tidy, but it will get you from point A to point B.


No need for the PDF anymore. I found the same form but in a Word .doc file. This lets me edit it and save it. Though I still have to unprotect it before I can spell check it.

Thanks for the suggestion about Quark though I sometimes I prefer retyping it even though it seems to be a hassle after the 4th or 5th time. Retyping it forces me to proof read and reread. This causes me to make changes as I go and improve, "hopefully," the document.
mangoman
Jun 5, 2003, 07:24 AM
Man, I'm way late to this one, but for what it's worth, count me in as an Acrobat Pro source. Haven't used it much since it came, but I'm willing to help anyone who needs a hand.

-mm
MacBandit
Jun 5, 2003, 01:05 PM
Originally posted by mangoman
Man, I'm way late to this one, but for what it's worth, count me in as an Acrobat Pro source. Haven't used it much since it came, but I'm willing to help anyone who needs a hand.

-mm


Cool thanks for the offer though I probably won't ever need Acrobat help again. Especially now that I know people that can help.:rolleyes:

Off topic. Everytime I see your name I think of that Saturday Night Live character 'Mango'.
mangoman
Jun 5, 2003, 01:33 PM
I got the mango' nickname while I was serving in the USMC due to my last name sounding close to it. The nickname's lasted... yes, even when that crazy Mango character showed up on SNL. Trust me, 'Bandit, that's not me!

:rolleyes:
MacBandit
Jun 5, 2003, 01:34 PM
Originally posted by mangoman
I got the mango' nickname while I was serving in the USMC due to my last name sounding close to it. The nickname's lasted... yes, even when that crazy Mango character showed up on SNL. Trust me, 'Bandit, that's not me!

:rolleyes:

Hey I don't know it wouldn't be bad to be him. He's a real ladies man that just comes off as gay.:D