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karlshaw1202
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Converting PDF to Excel crashes/hangs

May 20, 2012 5:23 AM

Categories: Windows Tags: #windows_7 #excel #hang #crash_on_export #convert_excel

Hi all,

 

We have a PDF document at work which is 253 pages in size.  One of our Managers needed it in Excel format so we downloaded a trial of Acrobat Pro X to do so. 

 

Upon starting the conversion process all seems to go OK until towards the end of the progress bar which seems to take forever.  The Manager minimised the program to coninue with other work and after a while tried to maximise it to check but the program would not maximise - when it eventually does pop back up, the Window is shrunk down to just the Title bar and none of the minimise, maximise or even close buttons on the top right work. 

 

It has to be force-closed using Task Manager and at times it can be seen that the CPU is either idle when this is closed, OR it is at about 50% but nothing can be done to bring up Acrobat and check it's progress. 

 

After closing or leaving the program in its un-useable state, there is no sign of a created or in-progress xlsx or xls workbook file in the desired location, nor on the Desktop. 

 

The System is Windows 7 Professional 32bit and is running Office 2010 ProPlus 32bit. 

 

Is there a known bug; or is it just the sheer size of the PDF causing issue?

 

Any help is appreciated. 

 

Many thanks. 

 

Karl

1361 Views   5 Replies   Latest reply: Sandeep V., May 21, 2012 9:28 AM
 
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  • Sandeep V.
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    1. Sandeep V.,
    May 20, 2012 6:36 AM   in reply to karlshaw1202
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    Hi Karl,

     

    There shouldn't be an issue with the number of pages. Adobe Acrobat can convert larger documents. Hmmm.. but its very tough to say what went wrong. Is there a message on the progress bar showing the information about the progress? What is the PDF producer? Click on file menu->Properties and check. Also, could you split the document in 2-3 different parts and then try to convert just to check if there is a problem with some pages? Go to Tools->Pages->Split documents.

     

    Would you be willing to share the document with us so we can let you know what exactly needs to be done? if it is not confidential.

     

    ~Sandeep V.

     
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  • karlshaw1202
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    2. karlshaw1202,
    May 20, 2012 6:54 AM   in reply to Sandeep V.
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    Hi Sandeep,

     

    Thanks for the quick response. 

     

    I wasn't convinced myself it would be a page amount issue but just wondered if so! 

     

    I can't remember correctly what the progress bar message is on as the program hangs/gets minimised; but the progress bar is usually very close to the end.  I'll try and confirm the message at work tomorrow.  I will also check the PDF producer as requested. 

     

    The PDF file has tabled data preceded by at least one title page.  I did wonder if it was the title page(s) that may have been causing a problem; I will try and split the file, maybe having one split with tabled data only to see if that converts OK. 

     

    Unfortunately I am not able to share the file itself as it is of a confidential nature. 

     

    Thank you for your help so far.  I'll report back with some more of the above information very soon. 

     

    Karl

     
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  • Sandeep V.
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    3. Sandeep V.,
    May 20, 2012 7:11 AM   in reply to karlshaw1202
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    Okay. If you find the PDF producer is not Adobe, try this:

    File->Print->Select Adobe PDF printer and click print. Enter a name and save it somewhere.

     

    Open this refried PDF and try to export now.

     
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  • karlshaw1202
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    4. karlshaw1202,
    May 21, 2012 8:48 AM   in reply to Sandeep V.
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    Hi Sandeep,

     

    I found the Producer to be Adobe Distiller 6.0 which sounded old; I then re-printed the document as a PDF and the Producer was then Distiller 10.0

     

    The conversion then did work, however Acrobat did re-maximise as just the Top bar (with minimise, maximise and Close buttons). 

     

    The xlsx file was present where requested, albeit in a crude single column list; but it was there!

     

    Many thanks for your help

     
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  • Sandeep V.
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    5. Sandeep V.,
    May 21, 2012 9:28 AM   in reply to karlshaw1202
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    Cool... 

     

    It seems like a scanned PDF where Acrobat could not find multiple columns. For single column issue, you can try these steps:

    Open the PDF

    Tools -> Recognize Text ->In this File

    Click Edit and select -> Output Style = "Clear Scan" and Downsample = "600 dpi"

    OK and OK

     

    Once the OCR is done select the "I beam select tool" (an I with the pointer on the toolbar) and select the text.

    Right click and copy with formatting

    Open Excel sheet and paste

     

    See if you get some better results.

     
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