Comments for Why can't I copy/paste out of a PDF document?

Comment from GREG JACKSON on 2012-01-10

2012-01-11T00:41:14Z

MIKLO
"Its just the flavor of the week app", huh?
Quite a long lasting flavor because it's been around for over10 years.
Sounds like you fail to understand and appreciate PDF documents. That's fine with me.

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Comment from blanche on 2011-01-16

2011-01-17T02:37:56Z

PDF is, primarily, a portable reading and display format, it does that very, nothing more! This sentence tells us the essence of PDF!

so me who is not a tech guy, I really fuss with reuse of it. Apart from adobe series, which has a hefty price label. I use a PDF to Word Converter to use the text or any other content in PDF!

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Comment from Manohar on 2010-09-27

2010-09-27T11:17:02Z

Copy paste problem in PDF to ms word 2007
Hi this is manohar, I have a question regarding copy/paste.

I have a 231 pages pdf file. I need to convert it ms word 2007.

While pasting text from pdf to ms word, text is coming in unknown format(format is changing some symbols and spaces are coming).

For example: If I want to copy " Finite Difference Methods" it comes like this "

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Comment from Manohar on 2010-09-27

2010-09-27T11:16:07Z

For example: If I want to copy " Finite Difference Methods" it comes like this "

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Comment from Manohar on 2010-09-27

2010-09-27T11:14:17Z

Copy paste problem in PDF to ms word 2007
Hi this is manohar, I have a question regarding copy/paste.

I have a pdf file. I need to convert to ms word 2007.

While pasting text from pdf to ms word, text is coming in unknown format(format is changing some symbols and spaces are coming).

For example: If I want to copy " Finite Difference Methods" it comes like this "

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Comment from Mpemba Snow on 2010-09-22

2010-09-22T22:39:27Z

"PDF documents were originally intended as a digital replacement for paper"

Exactly ... when I print out a doc on a piece of paper I can scrawl comments across it, annotate it, etc etc.

Now that can be done on PDFs, ... and make them useful ...

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Comment from nancysm on 2010-07-27

2010-07-28T02:44:08Z

"Why can't I copy/paste out of a PDF document?"
For copying/pasting into Word. Highlight selection in PDF document, copy and go to Word (I'm using Word 2002); use "Paste Special" + "Unformatted Text." THEN, go through and "edit" it.
This can be time consuming BUT if you really want the information, this works.

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Comment from Angel622 on 2010-04-21

2010-04-22T02:49:43Z

This is because pdf is protected by the creator,pdf file can be protected by password and restriction.You can remove resctriction use advanced pdf password remover 5.0
http://www.advancedpdfconverter.com/products/pdfpasswordremover.html
Also,you can remove pdf password use PDF Password recovery 5.0 which is it is very popular for removing pdf password.
http://www.recoverlostpassword.com/products/pdfpasswordrecovery.html

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Comment from kethy on 2010-01-19

2010-01-20T03:36:00Z

Just like jack mccurdy said,why not convert it to word,it can save a lot of time.but abobe acrobat is very costly,not suitable for enterprise not for common users.you can try simpo PDF to Word to do that which is very cheap but works very well. i had tested.

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Comment from Andrew Hardie on 2009-10-30

2009-10-30T12:24:53Z

I use the Snipping tool in Vista and W7 to copy and paste. Much better than PrintScreen as you can copy small portions.
You have to enable Tablet though.

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Comment from Melvin James on 2009-08-27

2009-08-28T06:50:16Z

You can't copy/paste because of the restriction set by the creator. That's the so called PDF Owner Password.
In fact, you can just convert the PDF to Word then you can copy/paste, or even edit as you wish.But legally of course.
Not many PDF to Word converters support this function, especailly the online converter.
So you can try AnyBizSoft PDF to Word converter to change the protected PDF to Word. It's a very cool program, the output quality is excellent. You can have a try.

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Comment from William Surya Permana on 2009-08-26

2009-08-27T03:33:48Z

If you are using Office 2003 (or later), you must have 'Microsoft Office Document Image Writer' on your Control Panel's Printers and Faxes.
Then to convert your PDF to DOC, do these:
1.Open your PDF file.
2.Print it by using 'Microsoft Office Document Image Writer'.
3.Save the image as MDI.
4.Open the MDI file using 'Microsoft Office Document Imaging'
5.Click Tools > 'Send Text to Word'
6.Last, follow the instructions. ^^ and.. it's done.

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Comment from jack mccurdy on 2009-08-26

2009-08-26T14:19:27Z

Why not convert it to a word doc, then edit it. Then convert it back to a PDF. All you would need is word and adobe acrobat.

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Comment from Robert Rosenstein on 2009-08-26

2009-08-26T13:10:59Z

For students who want to copy passages from PDF files, Foxit software works fine. There is an icon you can use to Select the passage, after which a ^C (control C) will copy it to the clip board - or better still, use a program like Clipmate. BTW, I learned a few things from these comments - keep 'em coming.
Robert

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Comment from Jim on 2009-08-25

2009-08-26T00:07:28Z

Try PDF to word converter from hellopdf.com, it is similar to the pdftoword converter but can be downloaded for free.

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Comment from Roger b on 2009-08-25

2009-08-25T19:08:57Z

Miklo (previous post) has an option (screen print) that I frequently use, however there is a new app. out there, PDFTOWORD.COM, that sounds like it might also do the trick when you need to do changes.

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Comment from MIKLO on 2009-08-25

2009-08-25T18:59:51Z

Jeez I just don't understand why everything has been made so difficult,B4 PDF I always took a "screenshot" of anything I wanted.Of course ya sure cant edit the text without speding a lot of time, but you have an exact copy.Someone mentioned OCR which is the best bet to be able to do much of anything with a lot of PDF files.Something I have done since I started using computers is to save something using any available format txt,rtf.doc,html,etc. and just play with it to see what I can do with the file.I don't really see why everyone thinks PDF is so cool,2me its just another app that I don't really need that much, Its just the flavor of the week app that ppl must have for some unknown reason, ppl send stuff in that format and I'm forced to deal with it.IMHO this doesn't make the file anymore secure than any other format.If I really want to take the time its possible to take a screenshot (many free software versions to choose from)and edit from there.In fact its a bunch of work with no payoff,but that's how I learned about computers and what makes em tick.
I was told a long time ago to save a file I wanna play with and use the copy to experiment so when I mess up the file I still got the original to rely on.Jeez I love this stuff....LOL.

MIKLO

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Comment from AG Wright on 2009-08-25

2009-08-25T17:01:59Z

Google Docs can copy and paste from PDF docs. At least on the ones that I just tried it can.

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Comment from AJ on 2009-08-25

2009-08-25T16:36:06Z

Foxit can help in copy and past functions assuming it is not an image file and Foxit PDF Editor is very effective at editing PDF files.

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Comment from Gabe on 2009-08-25

2009-08-25T16:21:27Z

If I could offer a direction...

Look into a feature called OCR (Optical Character Recognition). It simply scans these PDF's and interprets the images and creates the text itself. They are not perfect, but can be quite effective in at least getting a lot of text into a "copy-pastable" (is that an official word yet?) format. It's necessary to proof what has been copied, but if you have to re-type it anyway...

I don't know anything about the free versions (I personally use Adobe Acrobat which costs money) but I'd guess that at least one is out there that offers OCR capability.

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Comment from Tina Jeremiah on 2009-08-25

2009-08-25T16:06:57Z

You CAN edit pdf's - change type, remove images and add - Adobe Illustrator. But it's an expensive option and not a software everyone has. Works wonderfully if pdf not protected against editing (which I find is rare) and pdf is NOT a single large scanned image of type (There's another software for that OCR recognitation program,I believe). Only problem is if you don't have existing font, it will substitute. And I'm able to copy & paste between Illustrator, Photoshop & InDesign.

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Comment from Alex Fane on 2009-08-25

2009-08-25T16:05:47Z

You can also (if it is not disabled) SAVE AS and pick RTF or Text format. This will miles ahead of retyping.

Not if the PDF is locked, or comprised of page images.

26-Aug-2009

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Comment from Ron on 2009-08-25

2009-08-25T15:55:25Z

I think that I nust be a little mad. I see problems with not being allowed to copy and paste as a challenge. Anyhow with pdf documents that wont let me copy I use Omnipage to convert the pdf to a word doc. Then there is no problem copying and pasting.

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Comment from Berns on 2009-08-25

2009-08-25T15:50:51Z

You can't edit, but YOU CAN COPY. With the PDF document open, click on Tools, Select zoom, and snapshot tool.
then 'frame' the paragraph(s)you want to copy and paste them into your MS Word document. While it can't be edited you have AN EXACT copy.
Berns

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Comment from Cathy on 2009-08-25

2009-08-25T15:49:55Z

It is possible to select an area within a PDF, copy it to the clipboard and paste it into a word document. To do so, place your mouse over the area you wish to select in the PDF file until you see the cross-hair pointer, click and drag the area you want to copy, then either type Ctrl C or click EDIT on the toolbar, click COPY. The image is then copied to the clipboard. Next, you must open the word document, click Ctrl V or click EDIT on toolbar, then click PASTE to insert the image into the document.

It's a lot of steps, but it can be done.

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Comment from John Palmer on 2009-08-25

2009-08-25T15:39:53Z

I use a free alternative to Adobe's PDF Reader that has added functionality, including the ability to copy text to paste elsewhere (if that hasn't been disabled by the original creator of the file). It's called PDF XChange Viewer, available for download at:

http://download.cnet.com/PDF-XChange-Viewer/3000-10743_4-10598377.html

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