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tryanother
tryanother
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How do I convert pdf to text?

Apr 2, 2010 6:54 AM

I'm using Adobe Reader 9.3.1 on a MacBook Pro  10.6.2 and I can't get Adobe Reader to save pdf files as text. When I choose that option, it creates a text file with the same name, but the file is blank. I need a fast, reliable way to convert pdf info to text. Can anyone help? Thank you.

65476 Views   10 Replies   Latest reply: LoriAUC, Jun 5, 2012 1:30 PM
 
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  • CtDave
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    1. CtDave,
    Apr 2, 2010 7:14 AM   in reply to tryanother
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    What you describe is indicative of a PDF that contains the scanned image of text.

    As an image, there'd be no text to save out to a text file.

     

    Be well...

     
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  • tryanother
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    2. tryanother,
    Apr 2, 2010 7:25 AM   in reply to CtDave
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    Oh. Great. What a mess. Thank you for trying to help. This stuff is so basic to business these days wish someone would come up with an ordinary, simple, reliable conversion program. Sigh.

     
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  • ~graffiti
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    3. ~graffiti,
    Apr 2, 2010 7:31 AM   in reply to tryanother
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         There are quite a few of those out there.

     

    For starters, there's Adobe Acrobat. Then there's Abbyy FineReader...

     

     

    This stuff is so basic to business these days wish someone would come up with an ordinary, simple, reliable conversion program.

     
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  • tryanother
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    4. tryanother,
    Apr 2, 2010 8:00 AM   in reply to ~graffiti
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    Adobe Acrobat, for certain, will easily, reliably convert pdfs to text? No hassles? Just do it? If that's true, I'll buy it right now. But the other poster said the pdf that's giving me all the problems is an image of text. Adobe Acrobat can convert that to text? I need to get work done, not play with computers. This is something that really works?

     
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  • ~graffiti
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    5. ~graffiti,
    Apr 2, 2010 8:24 AM   in reply to tryanother
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    Yes. It has a feature called Optical Character Recognition (OCR) that will convert images of text to text.

     

    But if you want my opinion, Abbyy FineReader probably does a better job since it is dedicated to that purpose only where Acrobat isn't. It's cheaper too so unless you want all the other features of Acrobat, it may be a better deal.

     
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  • ~graffiti
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    6. ~graffiti,
    Apr 2, 2010 8:26 AM   in reply to tryanother
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    One more thing. Don't expect hassle free conversions. Ther is no such thing but the right tool will make a big difference towards making life easier.

     
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  • tryanother
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    7. tryanother,
    Apr 2, 2010 8:32 AM   in reply to ~graffiti
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    Thank you very much. I'll check it out. And if you ever find one that simply does what it's supposed to do, no hassles, please let me know!

     
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  • ~graffiti
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    8. ~graffiti,
    Apr 2, 2010 12:43 PM   in reply to tryanother
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    I don't think that will ever happen.

     

    If you control the workflow from start (scanning) to finish then there's a chance that you can have a somewhat pain-free system.

     

    But since the original scan is in my opinion, the important part and may not be controllable on your end, there's not much to be done.

     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    9. wattscott,
    Apr 6, 2010 8:43 PM   in reply to tryanother
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    I think it is possible.

    Firstly, I don't suggest using Adobe reader or Arcobat to copy and paste from PDF to Word. It is tedious work with low efficiency.

    Try to use PDF to Text Converter, by which you can directly convert PDF to text. All the text will be preserved in an editable document.

    Best wishes.

     
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  • LoriAUC
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    10. LoriAUC,
    Jun 5, 2012 1:30 PM   in reply to wattscott
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    The Adobe ExportPDF online service also allows you to convert a scanned PDF to text.

     
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