From pdf to rtf to editable text?

Texts have arrived that were scanned into pdf format. My administrative
assistant, whose computer has Adobe Acrobat, converted the files to rtf for
me. When I opened the files in Word 2007 they could be read, but the files
were treated as pictures not text, and I was unable to edit and process them
as text.

Is there a way to open these files in Word 2007 so that they can be edited
as text documents?

Thank you for any help that you can give.

How were they scanned in as .pdf files? I suspect something was done
incorrectly at some point. I would suggest scanning them in as a .tif file
and then use Office Document Imaging to convert to text.

--

JoAnn Paules
MVP Microsoft [Publisher]
Tech Editor for "Microsoft Publisher 2007 For Dummies"



"Prof. JR" wrote in message
...
Texts have arrived that were scanned into pdf format. My administrative
assistant, whose computer has Adobe Acrobat, converted the files to rtf
for
me. When I opened the files in Word 2007 they could be read, but the
files
were treated as pictures not text, and I was unable to edit and process
them
as text.

Is there a way to open these files in Word 2007 so that they can be edited
as text documents?

Thank you for any help that you can give.

Many PDFs are created by scanning as pictures. The only way to convert them
to editable text is to use OCR software.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

"Prof. JR" wrote in message
...
Texts have arrived that were scanned into pdf format. My administrative
assistant, whose computer has Adobe Acrobat, converted the files to rtf
for
me. When I opened the files in Word 2007 they could be read, but the
files
were treated as pictures not text, and I was unable to edit and process
them
as text.

Is there a way to open these files in Word 2007 so that they can be edited
as text documents?

Thank you for any help that you can give.

Our multifunction printer/copier/scanner/fax/coffemaker/dishwasher/go-cart
at work does that. (No, it doesn't really make coffee, do dishes, or give us
an alternative form of transprtation. Darn it!)

--

JoAnn Paules
MVP Microsoft [Publisher]
Tech Editor for "Microsoft Publisher 2007 For Dummies"



"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
Many PDFs are created by scanning as pictures. The only way to convert
them to editable text is to use OCR software.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

"Prof. JR" wrote in message
...
Texts have arrived that were scanned into pdf format. My administrative
assistant, whose computer has Adobe Acrobat, converted the files to rtf
for
me. When I opened the files in Word 2007 they could be read, but the
files
were treated as pictures not text, and I was unable to edit and process
them
as text.

Is there a way to open these files in Word 2007 so that they can be
edited
as text documents?

Thank you for any help that you can give.

Open the pdf document. On the toolbar, look for the 'select' button
(usually is located in the middle on the second row). This will allow you to
highlight text only. You can then copy and paste text (including tables)
into word. However, you'll lose most of the formatting.


--
JenJen72


"Prof. JR" wrote:

Texts have arrived that were scanned into pdf format. My administrative
assistant, whose computer has Adobe Acrobat, converted the files to rtf for
me. When I opened the files in Word 2007 they could be read, but the files
were treated as pictures not text, and I was unable to edit and process them
as text.

Is there a way to open these files in Word 2007 so that they can be edited
as text documents?

Thank you for any help that you can give.

There is an interesting free PDF converter at
http://www.download.com/Free-PDF-To-....html?hhTest=1
However it does make you work for your trouble by presenting mathematical
problems to solve before it will let you use it (after the first couple of
conversions). You can easily work these out using Excel and user feedback
reports that after answering a few of these questions it gets bored and
stops asking any more. If you want the text to be really editable, uncheck
its 'uses text boxes' option.

It will convert files saved from graphics to text.

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org



Prof. JR wrote:
Texts have arrived that were scanned into pdf format. My
administrative assistant, whose computer has Adobe Acrobat, converted
the files to rtf for me. When I opened the files in Word 2007 they
could be read, but the files were treated as pictures not text, and I
was unable to edit and process them as text.

Is there a way to open these files in Word 2007 so that they can be
edited as text documents?

Thank you for any help that you can give.

Hi Graham,

It seems that recently the landscape is changing from having no free PDF to Word/text programs to a rapidly growing set of them.

The one you mentioned (the home page is http://free-pdf-to-word.com) for example, another at
http://www.somepdf.com/some-pdf-to-word-converter.html and another at http://hellopdf.com . The first one didn't mention on their
home page anything about the 'math test' use requirement g, the others let you off that hook

I don't have a current Adobe Acrobat set, do I recall correctly that you do have that tool?. If so, if Prof JR, has that (as
mentioned in the first post) does Acrobat containt the PDF to Word/RTF capability without going through OCR, or without using one of
the above products?

==============
"Graham Mayor" wrote in message ...
There is an interesting free PDF converter at
http://www.download.com/Free-PDF-To-....html?hhTest=1
However it does make you work for your trouble by presenting mathematical
problems to solve before it will let you use it (after the first couple of
conversions). You can easily work these out using Excel and user feedback
reports that after answering a few of these questions it gets bored and
stops asking any more. If you want the text to be really editable, uncheck
its 'uses text boxes' option.

It will convert files saved from graphics to text.


Graham Mayor - Word MVP

--

Bob Buckland ?:-)
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

I was surprised when (I think) Jay mentioned it a short while back.

It might run you through a few hoops, but it is as effective as any of the
not so free ones I have tried (though personally I would always use
Finereader). I'll have a look at the other one you mentioned.

Acrobat will certainly save to RTF, but the RTF so saved will only be
editable if the document that the PDF was created from contained editable
text. If the text is a graphic - eg Copy and paste special back into Word as
a graphic - then Acrobat will retain the graphic format. The free (with
strings) tool will change it back to text.

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org



Bob Buckland ?:-) wrote:
Hi Graham,

It seems that recently the landscape is changing from having no free
PDF to Word/text programs to a rapidly growing set of them.

The one you mentioned (the home page is http://free-pdf-to-word.com)
for example, another at
http://www.somepdf.com/some-pdf-to-word-converter.html and another at
http://hellopdf.com . The first one didn't mention on their home page
anything about the 'math test' use requirement g, the others let
you off that hook

I don't have a current Adobe Acrobat set, do I recall correctly that
you do have that tool?. If so, if Prof JR, has that (as mentioned
in the first post) does Acrobat containt the PDF to Word/RTF
capability without going through OCR, or without using one of the
above products?

==============
"Graham Mayor" wrote in message
...
There is an interesting free PDF converter at
http://www.download.com/Free-PDF-To-....html?hhTest=1
However it does make you work for your trouble by presenting
mathematical
problems to solve before it will let you use it (after the first
couple of
conversions). You can easily work these out using Excel and user
feedback
reports that after answering a few of these questions it gets bored
and
stops asking any more. If you want the text to be really editable,
uncheck
its 'uses text boxes' option.

It will convert files saved from graphics to text.


Graham Mayor - Word MVP

The second link you quoted appears to be another copy of the application for
mathematicians
The first one seems to work OK and is quite simple to configure from the
main screen. I may keep that one

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org




Bob Buckland ?:-) wrote:
Hi Graham,

It seems that recently the landscape is changing from having no free
PDF to Word/text programs to a rapidly growing set of them.

The one you mentioned (the home page is http://free-pdf-to-word.com)
for example, another at
http://www.somepdf.com/some-pdf-to-word-converter.html and another at
http://hellopdf.com . The first one didn't mention on their home page
anything about the 'math test' use requirement g, the others let
you off that hook

I don't have a current Adobe Acrobat set, do I recall correctly that
you do have that tool?. If so, if Prof JR, has that (as mentioned
in the first post) does Acrobat containt the PDF to Word/RTF
capability without going through OCR, or without using one of the
above products?

==============
"Graham Mayor" wrote in message
...
There is an interesting free PDF converter at
http://www.download.com/Free-PDF-To-....html?hhTest=1
However it does make you work for your trouble by presenting
mathematical
problems to solve before it will let you use it (after the first
couple of
conversions). You can easily work these out using Excel and user
feedback
reports that after answering a few of these questions it gets bored
and
stops asking any more. If you want the text to be really editable,
uncheck
its 'uses text boxes' option.

It will convert files saved from graphics to text.


Graham Mayor - Word MVP

Thank you, everyone, for your help:

These essays were all secured through Inter-Library Loan (ILL), which is a
library service that scans and sends articles not at your home research
library. How the articles are done depends entirely on the ILL library that
responds to your request, but they all arrive pdf.

The files are different foreign language articles from which I will use some
quotations in the current book on which I'm working. Typing in some
languages required special letters or diacritical marks which can be inserted
from a symbol button, but the process can get laborious and I was hoping to
be able to simply cut and paste. Printing the files, and running them
through a scanner, and saving them in rtf, doesn't help because the OCR
software can't read the foreign characters and gets confused by footnotes,
running home to daddy and producing funny results. The
printer/copier/scanner/fax/coffemaker/dishwasher/go-cart in the faculty
office may (or may not) have the ability to accept different OCR software,
but getting that changed would be more laborious than typing in diacritical
marks through the old hunt-and-peck method.

Once upon a time, when I wore bell-bottoms something like my nine year-old
daughter now wears, I had advanced placement in calculus when I went to
college. Perhaps it's time to dust off some math skills, eh?

Thanks again.

John

"Graham Mayor" wrote:

The second link you quoted appears to be another copy of the application for
mathematicians
The first one seems to work OK and is quite simple to configure from the
main screen. I may keep that one

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org




Bob Buckland ?:-) wrote:
Hi Graham,

It seems that recently the landscape is changing from having no free
PDF to Word/text programs to a rapidly growing set of them.

The one you mentioned (the home page is http://free-pdf-to-word.com)
for example, another at
http://www.somepdf.com/some-pdf-to-word-converter.html and another at
http://hellopdf.com . The first one didn't mention on their home page
anything about the 'math test' use requirement g, the others let
you off that hook

I don't have a current Adobe Acrobat set, do I recall correctly that
you do have that tool?. If so, if Prof JR, has that (as mentioned
in the first post) does Acrobat containt the PDF to Word/RTF
capability without going through OCR, or without using one of the
above products?

==============
"Graham Mayor" wrote in message
...
There is an interesting free PDF converter at
http://www.download.com/Free-PDF-To-....html?hhTest=1
However it does make you work for your trouble by presenting
mathematical
problems to solve before it will let you use it (after the first
couple of
conversions). You can easily work these out using Excel and user
feedback
reports that after answering a few of these questions it gets bored
and
stops asking any more. If you want the text to be really editable,
uncheck
its 'uses text boxes' option.

It will convert files saved from graphics to text.


Graham Mayor - Word MVP