Question for any PDF guru.

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Ok now here is what I want to do. I want to take some .pdf files, some old magazine articles and change stat blocks to a C&C format from an AD&D format. How can I do this in the original document? I can open them in Adobe Acrobat 7, but when I open the text touch up tool and select the text I want to change it tells me some problem with the system font not found or something like that. Any other apps that can convert this file into another format for editing? It is OCR formatted since I can select text and search and stuff like that. If you know a Linux app that is preferable, but if I have to use a Windows app, preferably Acrobat which I have, then that is fine too.

I can select all the text and copy into a OpenOffice or Word document, but it always messes the formatting up something serious and I have to spend a bunch of time fixing that then.

And in case you are going to tell me this is a violation of the DMCA or something like that, its only for my home campaign, not for distribution.

 

[Marius Delphus]

Ok now here is what I want to do. I want to take some .pdf files, some old magazine articles and change stat blocks to a C&C format from an AD&D format. How can I do this in the original document?

In general, you can't. Having the document in a "fixed" format is one of the central ideas of PDF.

I can open them in Adobe Acrobat 7, but when I open the text touch up tool and select the text I want to change it tells me some problem with the system font not found or something like that.

This means either you don't have the font on your system, or the PDF was saved with a subset of the actual font used, which means (technically) that you still don't have it on your system (as what that does is create a "virtual font" with a phony "virtual name").

In any case, trying to modify a PDF is at best a pain in the kiester, and it's frequently flatly impossible.

Any other apps that can convert this file into another format for editing? It is OCR formatted since I can select text and search and stuff like that. If you know a Linux app that is preferable, but if I have to use a Windows app, preferably Acrobat which I have, then that is fine too.

If the security features are turned off (and it sounds like they might be, since you can copy and paste), you should be able to just Save As... from Acrobat and choose HTML, RTF, plain text TXT, or Word DOC. You'll have to experiment and figure out which format requires the least work on your part after the fact.

There are a number of programs for sale that claim to be able to figure out the PDF format and turn it back into a proper word processing document, but I've never used these and can't comment on their effectiveness. For example:

http://www.bcltechnologies.com/document/products/allpdf/

I can select all the text and copy into a OpenOffice or Word document, but it always messes the formatting up something serious and I have to spend a bunch of time fixing that then.

You're not doing anything wrong, if that's what you're asking. The PDF format introduces a lot of stuff designed to make the PDF look right, which has nothing to do with whether it'll transfer to a word processor, and which often creates exactly the kind of problems you're seeing when you try.

The only thing I can suggest is to Paste Special... in Word, choose "Unformatted Text," and see what that does.

And in case you are going to tell me this is a violation of the DMCA or something like that, its only for my home campaign, not for distribution.

If it's for your home campaign, then I don't see a problem.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Thanks for the info.

 

[Mycanid]

Just saw this ... Marius is on the money.

Another utility you might consider that can edit pdf's well, although not change page layout, is EnFocus' PitStop Pro. It does quite a good job.

 

[Cergorach]

Just saw this ... Marius is on the money.

Another utility you might consider that can edit pdf's well, although not change page layout, is EnFocus' PitStop Pro. It does quite a good job.

You can download a demo for trial.

Might i note that although it is possible to change the pdf, anything drastic will cause trouble (from corrupt pdf to an application error).

I would suggest to extract the text and rebuild the format in a DTP program like Indesign (also a trial available) and then save it as a pdf (with the changed text of course). Might be a little bit more work, but you know it works and you'll get a lot cleaner pdf.