PDF to TXT conversion
 

Most of current-day .PDF files have been created from computer-readable files (.DOC, .RTF, etc.), and most of the latest Acrobat Readers let you select and copy text (and even images) from such files, to quote elsewhere, for instance.

Some older .PDF files are simply PDF-compressed copies of scans (hence bit maps) of old documents, and the "select and copy text" function of Acrobat Reader no longer works, even though the documents are text, and the Acrobat Reader "select and copy text" function seems to be based on some kind of OCR.

Does anybody here know anything about tools to extract a text file from such an ancient .PDF file?
(Short, obviously, of printing, scanning, using an OCR program, and cleaning up afterwards.)

CJ

Omnipage (pro) does support importing directly from PDF files, so you could bypass the printing and scanning bit!

I'm sure that other OCR programs do so also.

I've seen older versions - e.g. 14 instead of 15 - at a fraction of the current version price.

SD

SD,
Thanks already!
Any links to a cheap or free download that might do the job?
I don't mind paying sumpin', but not £500 for what will be a once-only.

Found one "converter", but that turned 36Mb into 1.3Gb, so obviously not what I wanted.

CJ

As I said, a previous version can be yours for a LOT less!!

I just picked that as an example - I've never bought from them, so it's not a recommendation or endorsement.

You could also try ebay.

Try a google on "Free OCR software" - you might pick up something useful there.

SD

Trying to remember what I used before, but this says it will do the job for you and is FREE. Can't test it myself because I'm running Linux at the mo (because Winblows decided to bork itself. Again)

Free PDF Text Extractor: Convert PDF file to plain text file. [A-PDF.com]

This looks like it will do the job

Download Free OCR - Freeware Download List

If you have windows vista.............


Print the copy protected pdf document to the logical printer provded by vista called "Microsoft XPS document Writer" - this will then prompt you for a file name and save location. After its completed you can then double click on the document which will then open in internet explorer and copy the text with ease.

JOF,

That's neat - and you can get the XPS writer for Windows XP too, as an add-on.

SD

JOF,
I Googled "XPS Document Writer", and the most popular downloads seem to be those for the XPS Document Writer Removal Tool !!!
Nuff said, maybe?

SD,
Thanks for the link to Omnipage 14, I couldn't find it. Since mine's a one-off job I'll still try for a freebie first, but otherwise that's a reasonable price. Omnipage is known well enough.

cdtaylor_nats
I looked at FreeOCR, but when you click "Download" you get an announcement of a new version, but no way to download it yet.

hellsbrink
A-PDF states specifically that it does not convert text-as-images PDF files.

Any other offers?

BTW, the "target" is no secret...
The BEA Habsheim report in French
Warning, it's about 38Mb.
So if anybody can turn it into .DOC, .RTF, .TXT, or whatever.. yes please (even if the formatting gets lost and it's not faultless; it's meant to be used as a raw base for a translation).

CJ

Christiaan

This Advanced PDF to Word Converter Free - Free software downloads and reviews - CNET Download.com has just converted that pdf to a doc file.

You can't edit the outputted (is that a word? who cares) file, but you can open it in M$ Office, etc.

Will keep a-hunting and find the program I used before because it was gratis too and let you edit the converted file.

hellsbrink,
Downloaded your suggestion and let it loose on the PDF file.
As you say, it produces a .DOC file, that you can open with Word.

Unfortunately.... the result is a 74 page .DOC file (the right number of pages) but with all the text pages as ..... 74 pages of graphics.

So I'm no further ahead.....

Yes, please, because that's what I'm looking for.

CJ

Adobe acrobat pro allows you to export a pdf as a .txt file which is fully editable but whether it works on old pdf's I've no idea.

Would this do it?

PDF Ripper - Convert PDF to Word, PDF to RTF, PDF to HTML, PDF to Text, PDF to TXT

Acrobat Reader 6.0 (my favourite) lets you do that too - but only if the original file was text-based. The moment the text itself is image-based (raw scan converted to .pdf) it no longer works.

I'll look, but again it sounds very much like it will do only PDFs that are text-based...

I just tried it, no joy...

CJ

ChristiaanJ, it looks as if the PDF is based on graphics as has been stated before, in that case you will not be able to do anything but use an OCR program. I have done this before with Omnipage and that works quite well but it is not a one-click fix (mind you, there is no one-click solution for this!). If you're still stuck with this next week I could try to find the time to run it through my Omnipage version.

That's exactly the problem.

I totally agree.
I just vaguely hoped there already was a free program about somewhere that would do OCR directly on a graphics-based PDF, even if less-than-perfect...

My main question about Omnipage is really, whether it will open the PDF and OCR it, or whether I will have to print all, scan all and OCR it. If I can use Omnipage to open the PDF, click and click and click, and end up with at least a .TXT file at the other end, I'll get it.

If you would, I'd be most grateful.
As I said, a basic text version, even with all the OCR "typos", would be a real help.

CJ

Yes, you can. Omnipage has the ability to OCR from a file, and it can import a multitude of file types, including PDF.

However, not all versions of Omnipage support all the file types - the "SE" versions that are shipped "free" with a lot of scanners, for example, don't support PDF.

The "pro" versions, like the one that I linked to - Omnipage 14 - do open and OCR PDF files directly.

I don't understand your problem with the link I gave you - it opens right up on the item.

SD

SD, the link is fine. :ok: and thanks again! My only problem is the $40 price tag... for something I'm unlikely to use more than once. But it's probably the answer, unless Jhieminga can come up with a crude text version of the original file.

CJ

Ahhh - I think I misunderstood what you wrote previously. All is clear now!

SD

I'm running it through Acrobat Writer's OCR at the moment to see what happens - if that doesn't work, I have some kit at work that might do, can do it in the morning. Have had some good results with it in the past.

The print quality doesn't look too great though, so might be a lot of errors.