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Author Topic: recognize blocks in pdf, align them and edit them  (Read 3754 times)

kalos

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recognize blocks in pdf, align them and edit them
« on: August 17, 2012, 07:09 AM »
hello!

I want to edit pdf files of textbooks as I read them

nothing special, just remove some garbage sentences, add some text, etc

however, as you all know, working with pdf is troublesome

i wonder if a program exists that identifies blocks of pdf, that contain text or graphics, put them in line sequencially, and let you edit the text as in msword, without messing things up

thanks!

Curt

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Re: recognize blocks in pdf, align them and edit them
« Reply #1 on: August 17, 2012, 12:15 PM »
editing a pdf file is "per page"; you cannot make the editor push the existing text on to the next page - meaning that any edit must stay within the already existing 'space' (or insert a new page). If you need such feature, converting to RTF or similar is necessary.

I don't understand what you mean with "put them in line sequencially"
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Infix is a ($$) fine pdf editor.


kalos

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Re: recognize blocks in pdf, align them and edit them
« Reply #2 on: August 17, 2012, 12:49 PM »
"put them in line sequencially" = place the text of encountered blocks in a page one after the other, as you read

the problem with PDF to RTF/DOC/TXT converters is that they mess up the text because they try to retain the layout

what I want is the text and the graphics (and tables saved as graphics)

Curt

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Re: recognize blocks in pdf, align them and edit them
« Reply #3 on: August 17, 2012, 03:12 PM »
the problem with PDF to RTF/DOC/TXT converters is that they mess up the text because they try to retain the layout

-no, but they might OFFER to save layout. In Nitro I can click "convert and save as one column without original layout". However, it doesn't take much before the file is claimed to merely be a scan => save as bitmap instead. I even have files that were made by Nitro, but that Nitro cannot convert. So, mostly I will prefer to merely edit in PDF format, using Infix, rather than first convert to "normal" text format and then edit.

daddydave

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Re: recognize blocks in pdf, align them and edit them
« Reply #4 on: August 17, 2012, 03:39 PM »
I've had some luck editing documents with SodaPDF word processor style, although on some files, I've seen it do crazy things with the fonts, and I haven't had a need to test it extensively, I have only done minor edits. It is payware, but there was a decent discount at the end of the trial period, I should have that discount link somewhere.

Update: Here's the discount link. But by all means run the trial first to see if it does what you want.
« Last Edit: August 17, 2012, 05:25 PM by daddydave »