Convert PDF to Doc. 2

[jlockley]

I've seen a couple of postings here, and pdf files are one of my pet peves (my search firms needs to deal with resumes in pdf..they are all but easy to handle), so I thought I would share/

Scansoft claims that just released omnipage pro 14 will translate pdf files into .doc format. I don't know if it works, but I have been using version 11 for some time and find it pretty good, at least compared to everything else on the market. The special offer for the upgrade would be $99.

Here the claim. For the first time ever, you can convert "PDF files into Microsoft Office files (or any one of 20 other formats) that you can then edit. Not only is this conversion fast and easy, it is accurate. The advanced OCR capabilities of OmniPage Pro 14 let you accurately retain the format and layout of your original PDF image, even complex files with text, graphics and columns. Bottom line? With OmniPage Pro 14, PDF files aren't 'read only' any more!


This new version of OmniPage also offers PDF Output, so now you can turn paper documents into PDF image files, which are then searchable by keyword and can be viewed by anyone with a PDF viewer. ":

 

[jlockley]

An update. The upgrade is not Omnipage Office. Although it is possible to process pdf files by opening them in Omni Page, it is not possible to convert them directly to Word. The process is fairly accurate, although the format is not concise, and the final product, like any OCR'd page, needs some reformating. Still it works better than cut, paste and reformat.

The accuracy of Omnipage Pro 14 seems to have been improved over version 10, my last purchase, although it still leaves verification and correction tasks.

 

[MakeItSo]

You can also save PDFs as DOC or RTF with Acrobat 6.
However I might add, that PDF is meant as a finished document format.
You don't really want to edit PDFs.
You rather edit the original format from which the PDF was created and re-postscript it afterwards.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Andy

[blue]The last voice we will hear before the world explodes will be that of an expert saying:
"This is technically impossible!" - Sir Peter Ustinov[/blue]

 

[SmsgtBob]

I have a situation where PDF files are sent us in a spreadsheet format. It would have been better if sent as a Quattro or Excel file; however, that is behind us and we need to manipulate some of the data contained in the PDF files. At present I don't want to invest in a costly program that may or may not convert the PDF files to either Excel, Word, Wordperfect or to Quattro. What are my options to convert PDF files that can then be sorted by criteria selected?

 

[slurpee55]

Well, the OmniPage software can be tried for tree, so I would suggest you download it and see how it works for you. And if it does, it's cheap at the low price! (I like their stuff, I admit, but have nothing to do with them...)

 

[jlockley]

Omnipage kind of works. It's essentially scanning.

I think there's a solution with the Excel issue, however, since any table pasted into Excel will automatically assume the form of a spread sheet.

You can either try select all (ctrl a works in Acrobat), cut it and just paste it onto fresh Excel sheet, or you can try to save it (I assume that Adobe Reader is the form which can save as RTF?) as rtf and paste that into Excel, as it should be a table. Obviously you are going to lose any formulas, and we all know what happens to dates when you mess around between programs, but still...


The problem with acrobat is that it is a presentation/publishing program which people use as a word processor, or heavens forfend, a spread sheet. I need to add to resumes sent to me when I send them out - annotate, correct false information, update, etc. I can't do it with adobe.

Working with cut and paste for specific data, another of my needs (databasing information for quick retrieval) is nearly impossible. Cutting and pasting adobe formated info into a document creates a real mess.

I wish people would stop using it. Our instructions tell people specifically that we will only accept word or rtf documents (but in reality I have filters for most..it's really a matter of seconds) but there is always the person who feels that by using a cadillac as a wheel barrow, they will impress, so I need to be able to get to the stuff.

 

[SmsgtBob]

jlockley - Unfortuantely, the PDF file came as a spreadsheet. I'm trying for a re-transmit in an Excel format. I guess PDF shrinks the data so that it doesn't take as long to transmit - but it does create problems. I think I'll try the Omnipage to see if it will do what I want.

Thanks
Bob

 

[jlockley]

Have you tried to cut and paste directly into Excel. You'd be surprised how Excel takes the information most of the time. I hope it does this time.

Omnipage, however, will take the information in as a table and export it to Excel fairly easily.
JLL

 

[Davidprince]

Hi guys
I have been using a product by ABBYY (ABBYY PDF Transformer). It is accurate for most conversions of PDF to Word but haven't tried it with Excel although the documentation says it works for both Word and Excel. In addition it will convert and save PDF files in Doc,RTF,XLS,HTML and TXT formats. Lastly, the download gives you 12 uses before you need to buy a copy.

Regards
david

 

[eyec]

instead of converting a PDF try asking ther originator of the file to resend it in a format you would rather have.

the reason why people use PDF is so that what they send is their property (intellectual or proprietary) and they do not wish it changed.

there is always a way to copy/edit just about any document but, should this be done without the originator's permission?

in many cases files are copyrighted and this raises another issue.

 

[jlockley]

Most of the people who sendm e PDF documents do it because someone they know writes it for them. Occasionally they are sent by a firm we use with a request to review and return with comment, or to edit.

Of course this isn't what Adobe is meant to do, but it gets misused a lot.

I also get sent an address book pdf. In this case the intent is to prevent iut from being imported into a spread sheet or database, which defeats the purpose of the exercise, but Luddites will be Luddites.

 

[MakeItSo]

David:

I also have to occasionally convert PDFs to DOC, since we sometimes have to handle Documents, of which the source doc no longer exists.
I have downloaded and tried the ABBYY converter: It seems to work fine, if you do not need exact layout.

However, if the DOC must be as close to the the source as possible (e.g. for later re-PDF), then the Solid Converter gives much better results. It also has more settings to extract as "Exact layout" over many intermediates down to "text with linebreaks only"

http://www.solidpdf.com/download.htm

Hope this helps.

Andy

[blue]An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind. - "Mahatma" Mohandas K. Gandhi[/blue]

 

[TonyJollans]

I must agree with eyec - of course anything on a computer can be manipulated in most any way but generally PDF should not be converted to Word.

I send out my CV (Resumé if you like) as a PDF because it is not a document for other people to edit. Agencies (in the UK at least) seem to think it is just information for them to do with as they please - I'm afraid I disagree!

Enjoy,
Tony

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We want to help you; help us to do it by reading this: Before you ask a question.
Excel VBA Training and more Help at VBAExpress[

 

[MakeItSo]

Yes Tony, I agree.

PDF is an end format. I keep telling our customers. And I keep urging our managers to tell them...

However, there is an increasing number of customers who want to switch their system to another format or update from older documents. They used to leave all editing to some service company and only kept the PDFs... No orginal remaining...


Then we have to find some way to make these documents editable again - and the text reusable.
That is one time-consuming and imperfect procedure, but it needs to be done by someone.


[blue]An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind. - "Mahatma" Mohandas K. Gandhi[/blue]

 

[jlockley]

Most people who send resumes to me want me to ammend them and send them back. I agree that, if the document is not meant to be changed, it should not be changed. Unfortunately this is not generally the intention of many people who (mis)use Acrobat. Since I am the victim of their poor judgement, I need some easier way to deal with it. That would be any of the above programs.

Note that windows documents can also be locked.

As for resumes, you can only send someting out altered if the writer agrees to the alteration.

Anyway, the problem is dealing with inappropriate use of PDF format in most cases. The association sending an address book in PDF is another matter. They don't want it decoded. I frankly don't care, as I need a reasonable way to access the information they provide, and PDF isn't it. (Long argument with Luddites).

 

[TonyJollans]

I have no doubt there are times when you need to edit a PDF and, equally, no doubt that's it's difficult to do reliably. I'm a bit surprised you have a major problem with it as the Acrobat writer is not something that most ordinary users have (although it's getting more common) and I would generally expect those who have it to understand its purpose. Still, many things about computers and their use continue to amaze me

People asking for electronic comments really should know better than to send things to you in a format which doesn't accept same, of course and I can understand you getting frustrated.

It's really a bit OT, but what (UK) agencies do to and with my CV without my permission (indeed with my express lack of permission) routinely annoys me. Although they are better than they used to be there are still too many who seem to consider it theirs to edit and who won't accept it as PDF.

Enjoy,
Tony

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We want to help you; help us to do it by reading this: Before you ask a question.
Excel VBA Training and more Help at VBAExpress[

 

[jlockley]

Changing paper without permission is definitely unethical.

The people with whom I work are not necessarily computer literate or for that matter extremelely literate at all.

Quite a few of them have their resumes written by resume services or by girlfriends or relatives who use PDF for work in advertising or publication or whatever. They also add a lot of junk which in my particular industry would lose the man the job immediately. (It's a cut to the chase environment. The blow em away paper doesn't get much respect)

The girlfriend, relative, friend - whatever - is not fluent in the language of my field and will correct spelling. Only about one of maybe fifty resumes comes to me in PDF, but that one is half an hour to an hour of extreme annoyance, especially if I have spent a week seeking the guy out for a specific job and the future employers are waiting angrily for a person for whom I have a document I know I can't send.

 

[jlockley]

AND NOW, I just got one in Pagemaker. Speaking of inappropriate formates.

 

[TonyJollans]

I'm going to have to take back what I said in another thread about Office being a de facto standard

Enjoy,
Tony

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We want to help you; help us to do it by reading this: Before you ask a question.
Excel VBA Training and more Help at VBAExpress[

 

[jlockley]

I have been all over the web seeking a program to convert the (*^&^* pmd file to Word, and there doesn't seem to be one. There was one to html, from which cut and paste would be possible. I can import it into word if I am ready strip off all the font information by hand, but nada mas.

Every document about Pagemaker is in PDF format - not surprising, when you think about it. This has given me an opportunity to remember why else I abhor the program as a recipient. Adobe takes forever to open as it parades every .dll and version across the screen. Life's too 8^&&$^&*^ short.