I have this exact same problem.  It is very frustrating.  How is it not possible to "grab" onto the text in the pdf ??!!

• I am looking at it.  I can see it.  I can read it.
• I can highlight the individual letters and words with the mouse pointer. (So it's not just a "picture")
• With a pdf editor, I can even make the text bold, italic, or increase the font size.

SO WHY CAN'T I COPY THE TEXT!   AAARGH!

No, the file is not protected.

Yes, I have tried saving as different formats.  (The "save as tiff file workaround" idea is  very time consuming and greatly degrades the quallity.)

The font is shown as being: "Arial083.313"

Something in the pdf program is recognizing the text, translating the 1's and 0's (that make up all computer files) into the letters that display on the screen that I can read and select with the mouse. So why can't that same "something" allow me to copy it?  So frustrating.

Somebody please help.  If you can solve this problem you are awesome.

Thanks for the reply Bill.  The font name shown in WORD or other word processor is the same--Arial083.313.

Example:  The text I copy in the pdf reads: "Check heating circuit sensors / heating system"

When I paste in word processor I get this: "3_         __&_     _____&_______&_         ____&4&_"

or this:    & &

Can I post my problematic file in this forum?

Bill@VT wrote:

 

For some reason attachments has been deactivated (used to be right above the Post Message button).

It's a security issue they are working on. Hope to get the option back soon.

Good idea.  Here is a link to the file on Google docs.

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0Bxko9yoJfnApZDYxZTI4NzMtNjhmYy00Z jc3LTg1ZWQtZmQxMjU4MGJmNzE1&hl=en

There should be a download link in the upper left corner.

Yes, I know some of the text is in German, but I should still be able to copy and paste the text as it is regardless.  But honestly, my main objective is to be able to search for text within the document.  If there is an error message saying "G2 Fault" I want to be able to search and find all references to this in the manual.

Simple fix for that file.

1. Change the language to Spanish

2. Save file

3. Reopen file

4. select ALL

5. Paste into Microsoft Word

Hope that works.

Thanks Techjf25....Your solution to print to CutePDF worked perfectly and solved an issue that I encounter quite frequently!  Super easy and quick as can be.

A PDF file does not store enough information to enable you to re-create it as a Word document (that's why it was invented, to prevent people copying files).

 

I agree with your opinion, PDF is end or export file and in order to preserve layout and any other content, it is existed independent from OS and applications. It displays like a photocopy of original file and the codes of it is totally different from Word, so there are many uncompatible issues out there.

Basically, a well-tagged PDF file can be copied successfully but the failing instances varies by multiple reasons.  

The CutePDF fix looks like it completely works for me!!!

Printed document through CutePDF, selecting settings that minimized optimization and requested native True Type fonts  (sorry didn't document exactly.....didn't think it would work right away!) .

Then did Acrobat OCR, and now I can copy and paste from Acrobat to other programs without garbage here and there.