I have a project that is time sensitve that I need a reliable PDF converter. I used Nuance's product and find it a bit iffy. I want to convert a PDF to an editable document, specifically Word or RTF. I actually have the Adobe Suite C3, but I find that it only converts the document into an image, not one that I can easily edit as a Word doc. Any suggestions? Any suggestions? Free would be great, but I am prepared to spend money if I need to, since this is something I need often enough.

If you have CS3 then you should also have Acrobat, which - according to these instructions - should allow you to easily convert PDF to word (depending on the complexity of the PDF...) I've never actually had to do that (we also have CS3 but don't use Acrobat much) so can't vouch, but if you already have the software it's worth a try. (Let me know if it works for you?) There must be instructions for how to do this directly on Adobe's site or help forum as well...

Assuming the PDF is not protected at all you should also be able to use the following (for simple, basic unformatted text copy/paste into Word)

1. Open the PDF document to the text you want to copy to Word.
2. Click the Text tool on the toolbar.
3. Highlight to select the text you want to copy, or (to select ALL text) click once in the text area and press Ctrl+A (select all).
4. Press Ctrl+C (copy) to copy the selected text to the Clipboard.
5. Switch to your Word document.
6. Press Ctrl+V (paste) to paste the text into Word.

Does anyone else currently use a program for converting PDF to Word??

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If you open it up in Adobe Acrobat, does the text tool work - can you highlight text? If not, it's possible that the original text document was exported or converted as an "image" to .pdf, rather than text and therefore won't transfer back to text.

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Jeanne
NowAssistingYou.com
Virtual Assistant :: Web/Blog Design & Hosting :: Writer

Originally Posted by jeannedb

If you open it up in Adobe Acrobat, does the text tool work - can you highlight text? If not, it's possible that the original text document was exported or converted as an "image" to .pdf, rather than text and therefore won't transfer back to text.

Yes, I believe you're absolutely correct about that. The material is original to the client who wants me to format it and it is about 125 typed pages. Cut and paste would take too much time. I'll check back to see if anyone else uses a reliable program, otherwise I guess I have to buy Nuance's PDF Converter again.

But I'm thinking that if Acrobat is indeed viewing it as an image (if it was created as a .pdf image rather than .pdf text), then there is no way to transfer it back as text.

Another possible option is to print it out and use a scanner that recognizes text and could possibly convert it.

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Jeanne
NowAssistingYou.com
Virtual Assistant :: Web/Blog Design & Hosting :: Writer

I know this post is a little old so you may no longer need this, but I thought I would pass it along anyways. I have used DocSmartz Pro in the past and it has worked really well. I think it is around $30.

Tammy