Copying and pasting from a PDF?

[BLACKDIRGE]

Hey all,

Is there a way to copy and paste from a PDF without the full Adobe Acrobat suite? Any free utlilities out there or anything?

Thanks for any help.

BD

 

[kingpaul]

I have full Acrobat, but I thought Reader also came with the "Select" button to allow you to highlight text. Granted, if the PDF in question is locked, you won't be able to copy/paste.

 

[2WS-Steve]

The free Acrobat Reader does have copy and paste. Just look for the button that looks like a text select cursor.

 

[BLACKDIRGE]

The free Acrobat Reader does have copy and paste. Just look for the button that looks like a text select cursor.

I'll be damned. I have been looking at PDFs for years and never noticed that.

Thanks guys!

BD

 

[Thanee]

Heh. There's also the snapshot tool.

Bye
Thanee

 

[werk]

I'll be damned. I have been looking at PDFs for years and never noticed that.

Thanks guys!

BD

It depends on if it was made in adobe, or just an image in .pdf format, like some faxes.

If it was created in adobe, the T with a square around it should work, which you've found near the hand thingy button. You can also format the selection shape to whatever works best.

It even works if it's a .doc printed to .pdf...just not if it's only an image...no good.

 

[XCorvis]

A lot of PDFs are just image files stuck together. You can use the snapshot tool to grab bits of the images from them, but they will only be images, not editable text. If the PDF was made from a text-based source (like Word, or in Acrobat itself) and converted into a PDF then the text should be selectable. (Unless they have some additional security settings to prevent that.) Note that most folks actually don't use Acrobat to create PDFs - they use the virtual PDF printer to make their Word or Illustrator docs into PDFs.