How to make a pdf (now exported to word)writable when it was originally a scanned image...?

[VegaOdyssey]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

Hi there. I have just received a pdf from someone who scanned all the pages in then emailed them to me as such. Now that I have exported it to word, I cant edit it. I understand that its because its an image - can I make the document writable again?
Its quite important because its over 300pages of text long...

 

[Michel Bintener]

Hi,

what exactly do you mean by "exported it to Word"? If the documents are
scanned images, you will need an OCR program, such as ReadIRIS Pro 11, to
convert it into text that can be modified by Word (or any other text
application, for that matter).

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

Hi there. I have just received a pdf from someone who scanned all the pages in
then emailed them to me as such. Now that I have exported it to word, I cant
edit it. I understand that its because its an image - can I make the document
writable again?
Its quite important because its over 300pages of text long...

--
Michel Bintener
Microsoft MVP
Office:mac (Entourage & Word)

*** Please always reply to the newsgroup. ***

 

[CyberTaz]

It can be done, but not with Word.

You'll need a program that can recognize the character images in the PDFs
which means that you may have to save each PDF in the Word document as a
separate file. If you have something the caliber of Acrobat you may be able
to use it but I think you'll need to output the Word doc as a PDF first,
then open it in the PDF editor to generate the text from the page images &
output a file in a format that Word can understand.. Different programs have
features which can help expedite the process.

Alternatively you could print the Word doc you received then scan the pages
using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to generate text content
rather than scanning as images.

Either way you'll have anywhere from a little to a whole lot of reformatting
& proofing to do and you'll have a separate issue to contend with if the
file has *any* graphic content you want to preserve - the OCR process will
not retain the graphics.

Good Luck |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Phillip Jones]

Michael,

In acrobat in the last couple of versions, you can save a PDF as an MS
Document or as a MS RTF document.
But what people don't realize, is that in order for it to work its got
to be a Text document to begin with in other words If they had save from
Word document and made into PDF if it would be a Text Document. Now if
you scan pages then those are image files and you are just creating
PDF's out of images. In which case you need to do as you said.

When I was working with my Association's Web page sometimes I would have
to take a PDF I was sent that I knew was from a Word Document file and
recreate the original document so I could edit it. and make a new PDF.

Hi,

what exactly do you mean by "exported it to Word"? If the documents are
scanned images, you will need an OCR program, such as ReadIRIS Pro 11, to
convert it into text that can be modified by Word (or any other text
application, for that matter).

--
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[Michel Bintener]

In acrobat in the last couple of versions, you can save a PDF as an MS
Document or as a MS RTF document.

Yes, I know. As a matter of fact, a stripped-down version of this feature is
also part of Adobe Reader, which allows you to save the contents of a PDF
file as plain text. However, I did not mention this as the OP clearly states
that the documents were scanned in, which means that he/she is clearly
dealing with image PDFs.

--
Michel Bintener
Microsoft MVP
Office:mac (Entourage & Word)

*** Please always reply to the newsgroup. ***

 

[Phillip Jones]

Yes, I know. As a matter of fact, a stripped-down version of this feature is
also part of Adobe Reader, which allows you to save the contents of a PDF
file as plain text. However, I did not mention this as the OP clearly states
that the documents were scanned in, which means that he/she is clearly
dealing with image PDFs.

That's fine, just wanted them to know That perhaps they had been sent
other PDF's they were able to do that too, And I was just making sure
they were it *can* be done, But only with PDF's created from word
documents to begin with.
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling
616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868
Martinsville Va 24112 |[email protected], ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet
------------------------------------------------------------------------

If it's "fixed", don't "break it"!

mailto[email protected]

<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/90th_Birthday/index.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Fulcher/default.html>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Harris/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Jones/default.htm>

<http://www.vpea.org>