The "Options..." item under the View Menu will display the following Options dialog:
The Options dialog enables the end user to configure Able2Doc's output to account for different possible PDF document structures. A brief description of each option is provided for below:
Auto-Spacing between words - Some PDF documents are created such that their internal structure does not demarcate “spaces” between words, even though the viewable PDF page does contain spaces between words. As such, the Accumax CT conversion engine automatically adds spaces between document patterns (i.e. words) as a default setting.
In certain cases, such as the case of expanded text with Justify alignment, the Auto-Spacing between words default can result in the insertion of extra spaces between words and poor conversion results. In these cases, conversion results may improve if the Auto-Spacing between words setting is deselected.
Auto-Spacing between close numbers - This function works similarly to the Auto-Spacing between words function, except it focuses on patters that consist of numbers.
Eliminate Repeated Characters - Documents will occasionally have a line of repeated characters, which may interfere with PDF conversion results. The Eliminate Repeated Characters setting allows the user to replace commonly repeated characters, such as asterisks (more than 2, **) with the following: “ *** ”. This option should be utilized in documents where the repeated characters are causing problems to the conversion output.
Retain Problematic Fonts Names from the PDF - In certain cases, a PDF document will contain a variety of challenging fonts within a PDF. The default is for the application to try and match the font to the closest available font in Word. In situations where the application is unable to find a suitable font for replacement, selecting this option provides the user with the ability to retain the font names from the PDF. By doing so, the user can then choose the fonts that they think will work best and can result in a better conversion result.
Horizontal Gap between Patterns during Selection- A “Pattern” represents a collection of character items, within the PDF source code, that our conversion engine has identified as a particular unit – such as a number or text string (one or more characters close to each other).
This option allows you to change the minimal gap setting between patterns during the selection and conversion process. Sometimes the actual distances or gaps between several different patterns in a PDF document are too small – and they are treated as one pattern by our conversion engine.
An error may occur for conversions when the standard Horizontal Gap setting between patterns is larger than the actual gaps between patterns in a document. In such cases, the gap between the two separate patterns is not recognized and the patterns are merged and placed into the same column instead of placing them into two different columns within a table. A potential solution for this issue is to reduce the Horizontal Gap to the “Smaller” or “Smallest” settings.
Page Margin Value - Use the Page Margin Value setting to change the size of the printable margins for a Word document converted from a PDF document. The default Page Margin Value is 0.00 inches – this is chosen because it provides the best positional output when converting a document from PDF to Word.
Certain office printers cannot print the whole page area of a PDF – i.e. 0.00 inch margins on a page will not print. If this is the case, the Page Margin Value allows you to set the printable margins appropriate for your printer.
Tips: (a) For best results, select the smallest Page Margin Value that your printer will support; (b) A Page Margin Value of 0.2 inches or 0.5 inches will generally work best on most printers
Place all Images in Background - This setting will place all images identified within a PDF document onto the background, as a background image, in the converted Word document. By default, Accumax CT adds images (such as JPG or BMP files) as MS Word pictures, so that you can format each image separately or change/move their position within the document.
In certain cases dealing with “masked images”, the conversion into Word may not be properly rendered based on our default setting. A “masked image” refers to the portion of a viewable image on a PDF document that is cropped or “masked” out – and placed on a different background. Because PDF documents may be multi-layered, the several backgrounds or layers contained within a PDF document may cause problems in conversion output.
In certain other cases, attributable to an inappropriate Z-order (i.e. the order in which graphics objects overlap each other) in the PDF source, images may also be incorrectly displayed – such as problems with image borders or disappearing images. In both of these cases, selecting this option (q.e. placing all images from the page to the background image) may avoid problems in the image display for the converted document.
Vector Graphics as Background Image - This option converts all PDF vector graphics objects within a page into a background image. What are vector graphics? Generally, there are two kinds of graphical objects in PDF documents– pixel-based images and vector graphic images (consisting of lines andshapes).
Pixel-based images that are viewed in Word may result in varying resolution – if the image is resized or redrawn, MS Word will attempt to add/remove pixels based on an algorithm. In most cases, the result is a loss in image quality – for instance, thin lines might disappear under low resolution.
Vector graphics, on the other hand, in PDF may be drawn at any resolution – which may result in better conversion results upon conversion into Word. However, in some cases, the number of vector objects comprising an image may be high, which may compromise the conversion for a particular Word document.
In cases where the rendering of vector graphics poses problems in the display of the conversion output, this option allows the user to display all vector graphics as a background image. By doing so, it ensures the integrity of the vector graphic image – although the drawback is that the vector image is not easily moved within the Word document.
Keep Hyphens from Original Document - The default setting is for the application to automatically keep or delete hyphens based on their position within the paragraph - in some cases, the position of the text in Word will vary from the original PDF document, so that a hypen that was originally required to split a word is not required in the converted document. The user can opt to select the Keep Hyphens from Original Document option to ensure that no hyphens are deleted.
Column (Newspaper) Paragraph Minimum Width - Many PDF documents are formatted with column paragraphs, or newspaper-style paragraphs. To assist in the recognition and conversion from PDF to Word for these types of paragraphs, the user can designate the minimum width for column/newspaper paragraphs.
The Accumax CT conversion engine contains complex algorithms for differentiating between table columns and paragraph columns – however, in some cases, it is very difficult for the engine to distinguish between these two types of paragraph. The Column (Newspaper) Paragraph Minimum Width setting allows users to improve conversion results by providing input regarding a PDF document’s structure.
Example – If it is known that a given document does not have any column/newspaper paragraphs with column widths of less than 3.00 inches, changing the Column (Newspaper) Paragraph Minimum Width to 3.00 inches will prevent the Accumax CT engine from treating certain table columns as column/newspaper paragraphs.
Notes:
The Column (Newspaper) Paragraph Minimum Width setting should be between 1.00 and 3.00 inches
