Able2Extract Professional Selection Options

Note: The following description is for PDF and XPS documents only - all references to PDF documents should apply to XPS documents as well. The HTML and Text file selection functions do not have the same selection functionality.

Able2Extract Professional offers selection features that differ depending on the type of PDF that is being converted.  The selection option is automatically set by Able2Extract Professional depending on which type of PDF document is opened.  Essentially, there are two different options:

1. "Column by Column" and "All Columns At Once" Selection (For Formatted PDFs):  These selection options are enabled when formatted and computer generated PDFs are being converted (generally most PDFs will be in this format).  Users select data from their PDF documents by left clicking with their mouse and dragging their mouse over the area to be selected..
   
   
2. "Specific" Selection (For Image Based and Scanned PDFs). This selection option is enabled when imaged based and scanned PDFs are being converted.  It allows users to select data from their PDF documents by specifying the area to be converted by using mouse-based selection.

Using "Column by Column" Selection:

• Documents with two tables side-by-side

For example, the following has 2 tables side-by-side on the same page. Selecting the whole page with "All Columns At Once" will produce the results that, although correct, will not be organizationally ideal - the two tables will be side-by-side in Excel.

However, by selecting the table of interest with "Column by Column" selection, we can convert only that table:

• Side-by-Side Tables where selection of only Right-Hand Table is relevant

For example, the table below (on right) is side-by-side with (assuming) irrelevant tabular information on the left. In such cases, "All Columns At Once" selection will, in general, give results that most users would regard unsatisfactory.

But, with "Column by Column" selection we can eliminate the irrelevant parts of page and enable conversion of the data we are interested in:

More Selection Examples

Page without any active selections on it:

Selecting in “All Columns at Once” format

Select the following icon on the toolbar:   

By using this icon, you will automatically select the entire width of the page. You can still select row by row but not column by column.

Holding the left mouse button down, drag the mouse over the data you desire to select.

Selecting in “Column by Column” format

Select the following icon on the toolbar:  

Using this icon gives you maximum control over the selection in PDF format.  Using this selection feature, you are allowed to select row-by-row and column-by-column. This works best when you only want to select certain columns on the page, not all columns!       

Holding the left mouse button down, drag the mouse over the columns or portions of the document to be selected.

Documents with tables that are surrounded by paragraphs or other irrelevant information

For example, the sample page below contains several tables - although only one of the tables is relevant or required by the user. In such cases, a "Full Page" selection will, in general, give results that most users would regard unsatisfactory.

But, with Column-by-Column Selection we can eliminate the irrelevant parts of page and get perfect conversion of the data we are interested as highlighted below:

 

Using "Specific" Selection:

• Selecting an area within a Scanned or Image PDF Document

Selection works differently for a scanned PDF - the above-mentioned "Column by Column" and "All Columns at Once" selection options are not available. Instead, it is "Specific" selection which is area based - the mouse can be used to select a specific "area" of a page - indicating which items are to be converted using the internal OCR engine. The example below shows that the other selection methods are not available as they are both unhighlighted.

 

Selecting an area for a Scanned PDF will look more like a black box than with the actual text highlighted - this is because there is no underlying textual information contained within the PDF for the selection feature to detect. The following is an example of the area over a paragraph being selected for a scanned/image PDF.

 

Note: The following description is for PDF or XPS documents only. The HTML and Text file selection functions do not have the same "Column by Column" selection feature.

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