Acrobat getting harder to deal with? (For conversion...) 1

[jlockley]

I cannot process acrobat files (resumes) Sent me. They will not store in our database systems, which we have no intention of changing, nor are they appropriate for client presentation, as there is no option of annotation with the software, which makes little sense for us. (We have most other document files and converters for nearly everything else.)
Until now I have if possible simply cut and paste or opened in Word Perfect (hardly satisfactory, but I can store it or convert it), but a recent resume is not cooperating.
The data either resolves in single word columns (each space replaced by a hard return - cut and paste or save as txt), is resolved as gibberish using paid conversion software (I would purchase one, if I found one that worked), inserts digital code between words and long lines of code in spaces, or jumbles words and removes most spacing. (Word Perfect).
My suspicion is that this is an updated version of Acrobat, and it will even more difficult to work with in future.
If so I need to set up our submission mechanisms to reject all PDF's with a note, but need to know if this is the case.

Thank you

 

[macropod]

Hi jlockley,

Have you checked the PDF's properties to see what software created it and what security options have been applied?

Cheers
Paul Edstein
[MS MVP - Word]

 

[FredWagner]

Your problem seems unlikely - most resumes arriving in Acrobat format would have been created from a Word Processing app, so they should already be word-searchable, and if you use any recent version of Acrobat Standard or Professional, you should be able to annotate without a problem.
One possible alternative - I've seen job ads where it specifices that resumes should be in MS Word format. If that's what you need, say so in the job listing.

Fred Wagner

 

[jlockley]

Thanks. Macropod, that's the answer. It didn't occur to me that it wouldn't have been written with Acrobat. It was written with Quartz, a Mac Program which apparently has a number of issues. At least that.
Fred, I wish I could a) store and b) annotate the PDF files. It is not possible without a PDF writer - I have one somewhere - and would still be of no use to me, as my Database will not deal with the format. (I have about15,000 resumes I need to be able to access through a search algorithm and mine.) I can link to them, but have not been able to annotate.
As for a statement to send only in Word (We will take open source, Star Office, Word Perfect, RTF, etc. Just about anything but PDF) - it's writ large, and do you think for one minute that anyone looks?? Heck no.
At the moment I either just deep six them (rather than storing them just in case), or, if they are very promising candidates, use a signature requesting .doc or .rtf. It's generally annoying, not the end of the world. It's just that the one who triggered this is the answer to a few of my clients' dreams.