There ARE objects. As I said, if i open it in adobe reader, i can select the text. and i can select the text with other tools such as "edit original document text"
but the simple gray "select an object" is grayed out
I think perhaps you are making a natural but wrong assumption that everything on the page is an object.
It isn't.
"Objects" here are things NOT part of the page text - if there is nothing but page text and graphics there are no objects. It only selects extra things like comments and form fields. If you want to select text, use the select text or edit text tools you already have.
i was confusing select an object with select tool for text and graphics. they look identical.
i always thought it would be a good idea to have some type of explanation that appeared in front of a grayed out option, so the user could understand why it is grayed out
