While PDF conversions are meant to be an easy, simple and hassle free way of extracting PDF content, they can’t always guarantee a process that’s problem free. There are just some things that will make converting those PDF documents more work than it should be.


Scanned documents will, more often than not, fall under this frustrating category. If you don’t notice that the PDF is a scanned file at first glance (by the page’s “grainy” look, the inability to select text when opened in Acrobat), you'll later on find out that you have to do more than just highlighting and clicking to get the job done.

For example, when the time comes for conversion, you might come across these problems:

1) The PDF file doesn’t display properly or correctly in our software viewer. For instance, if the opened PDF displays a black or blank page. In some cases, there might be black lines that cut across the page, distorting and blacking out some text.

2) The Professional version of Able2Extract recognizes a native PDF (electronically generated from an authoring application) as a scanned document, which shouldn’t happen.

3) When using the Standard version of our software, you get a pop up message that says “This page has no textual information” even though the PDF document is a native file. The software will highlight the whole page black instead of highlighting just the text.


And although it means more work, reprinting the PDF will often eliminate such errors. In order to reprint the PDF file, follow these steps and then retry the conversion:

1) Open the PDF file in Adobe Reader
2) Select File > Print
3) Change the Printer Name to ‘Adobe PDF’. Click on OK
4) Save the file as you normally would


If you don’t have Acrobat Distiller (a.k.a. Adobe Acrobat Professional), you can use Sonic PDF Creator v.2.0, available as a free trial on our website. The software will install a virtual printer onto your computer which you can access and use like the Adobe virtual printer. Once downloaded, you can use the same steps above. Just change the Printer Name to ‘Sonic PDF’ instead of ‘Adobe PDF’.


Thus, while your work may take another step or two, this tip will hopefully take some of the frustration off your shoulders.

Another year and another conference gone by. What happened? What was discussed? Going through the after effects of viewing and reviewing the Adobe PDF and Acrobat Conference seems to be an annual event in itself.

As promised, the company did make an appearance. And, not wanting to let the opportunity go by, I wanted to throw in another view, the Investintech view on it. I interviewed our Investintech President, David Moon, who attended the conference last week and had a front row seat for all the action.

In this interview, he gives a one-on-one view on his experience at the conference and on the PDF in general.

REENA: Hi David. First off, thanks for taking out the time to do this interview. It puts a personal perspective on such a huge event that involves a large community of users trying to find a foothold on the many aspects of the PDF. In fact, there are a number of conferences for the PDF industry, such as this one, that try to connect and reach out to the growing community of PDF users. What challenges do you think such an event faces when trying to cater to all users’ needs and interests? Do you think the conference met those challenges?

DAVID MOON, INVESTINTECH.COM: “PDF, as a media format, encompasses almost the full spectrum of viewable content – as such, the challenges are indeed formidable when reaching out to a community with such diverse perspectives. For instance, while some members of the PDF user community may deal exclusively with the capture of artwork for printing purposes, there are many others concerned with the document workflow within large organizations. With such a diversity of interests, one of the main challenges is ensuring that the conference is relevant for each user’s perspective, while also remaining true to the common themes and issues that relate to all users as an overall community.


This year, the conference organizers did a very impressive job of catering to unique perspectives and also providing relevant, over-arching themes. By having 7 or 8 different streams, they were able to address the specific needs of particular user groups, such Web, Print and PDF Technical. In the keynote speeches, however, much larger issues were discussed – that were relevant to all users, such as the environment and developments at Google.”

REENA: The environment is fast becoming a growing issue in the PDF industry. Al Gore’s appearance at the event as a speaker, seems to have reinforced the PDF as a huge part of saving the environment. Were there any other issues of the PDF that were addressed?

MOON: “First of all, Al Gore was a brilliant choice as a keynote speaker for this conference. His presentation didn’t specifically touch upon PDF, but the relevance of what he was saying clearly fit well into the themes of paperless workflows and paper reduction that PDF can really help with.

At the booth next to Investintech’s, was a company called Form Router. One of the really interesting things that their CEO, James Healy, is involved with is this project called Green PDF – which shared booth space with Form Router. I would encourage everyone to visit www.greenpdf.com and learn about the message they are sending. I think that companies can benefit in many ways by thinking more “green” – specifically with regard to reducing carbon emissions, saving trees and cutting costs on paper-related expenses. The Green PDF project was a great initiative and I think it fit in perfectly with the message that former Vice President Al Gore was delivering.”

REENA: The website for the conference had reported that there were actually 80 sessions and topics for this year. That’s a huge number of topics to cover in a conference lasting less than a week. What was the feedback you were hearing from the conference attendees?

MOON: “There was a lot of positive feedback on the conference. In some cases, where the attendees themselves are real experts in an area, what ended up happening was they gravitated towards sessions where they had less expertise. Also, because the quality of the experts presenting was so high, there was a lot of positive feedback on the sessions overall. Having met several of the presenters in the exhibit area, it is obvious that these people are real leaders in what they do.”

REENA: It seems to be no surprise then that the organizers would want leading experts in attendance who could define the direction of the PDF industry. With PDF topics that ranged across the developer, user and publishing perspectives, did you get a sense of any growing PDF trends, if any?

MOON: “This is an interesting question, because as a PDF-oriented company it is always important that we stay on top of what is happening in this space. I’m still processing all the things that went on during the conference, but this year’s conference struck me as an evolution in process. The conference itself was broader than last year, as it included all of the creative aspects – in fact, it was marketed as the CRE8 Conference.

Adobe had a much smaller presence, which I thought was interesting, and the array of exhibitors seemed to be a little broader. Just thinking about all the different ways PDF is being used, and how people are beginning to think more creatively about PDF – even in the business context – makes me think this space is going to continue to grow and evolve over the coming years. In particular, I think document management and how it relates to accessibility of information and consumption of paper resources, is going to be a continuing area of development and growth.”

REENA:There are pictures on the Adobe PDF and Acrobat Conference website from last year that showed Disney’s Milo & Stitch, seminars, and exhibitors—there was one of you and Keith, too. It looked like the conference last year had a fun atmosphere. What was your overall impression of the event this year on a whole? Were there any highlights for you?

MOON: “The conference this year also had an excellent vibe. I had the chance to meet Space Mickey and even had a green Mickey Mouse silhouette “tattooed” on my arm. Overall, the organization of the event was excellent and I think it is a conference that a lot of people are going to want to check out in coming years. The highlight for me this year was definitely Al Gore’s speech – it made me interested in the topic and I am definitely going to purchase a copy of his DVD and add it to our office DVD library. I think his message is a very important one – and it was obvious by the that he absolutely captivated the auditorium that he is truly passionate about the environment and making positive changes.”

REENA: Well, as president of a company that develops and writes PDF conversion software, what features or topics would you like to see in upcoming conferences?

MOON: “Given the broad applicability of PDF to almost every industry group – and the multitude of different kinds of users within those groups – I think there is a lot that people can learn from each other regarding how they use PDF and what formulas work for them. I also like the focus given to environmental issues – which is a common theme that relates to everyone.

Maybe some sessions where issues or challenges could be presented, and then having attendees break into groups to try and tackle these challenges together, would be an interesting thing way to mix things up. It could also be a good ice breaker to get attendees to get to know one another a little better.

Regarding PDF – I think it will be interesting to see what, if any, XPS has had since it’s launch with Vista. Also, I think a document management stream could be very useful – PDF is only effective as a pro-environment step if people don’t print their PDF documents. The solution to stop printing documents is better management of electronic documents within organizations.”

REENA: In general, going to a conference as a participant does mean work, but in a different way—interacting with users and attendees, providing others with an information on the company, etc. Yet, with the conference held in a sunny hot spot like Florida, touring the locale and doing some site seeing must have been a tempting aspect. Any interesting experiences on your trip outside of work?

MOON: “Unfortunately I didn’t get very much down time as it was a whirlwind for me in terms of timing – we were a bit short-staffed as Keith was unable to make it down with me this year. I do enjoy the tex-mex theme they have at the Coronado – where the conference is held – and the grounds are meticulous and beautiful. Rick Nordman at Form Router showed a pretty interesting video of his “snow-at-home” winning contest entry – I didn’t think it was possible to make snow in Cary, North Caroline. I think you can view it at www.snowathome.com.”

REENA: There’s one question left to ask: What’s your favourite aspect of the PDF format?

MOON: “My favourite aspect of the PDF format? I like the notion that when something is in PDF – it can be used, created, sent, filed and saved in so many different ways for so many different types of users. That was something that struck me in this most recent PDF conference, and I hope that the use and relevance of PDF continues to grow as businesses continue to evolve their internal business processes.”


Undoubtedly, the PDF world has a lot to offer, and these events are just one way of getting that message across! Many thanks to David Moon and his take on the PDF conference.

Sitting by the window in a coffee shop, you always tend to let your gaze fall on whatever happens to be in front of it.

And on one particular day in a coffee shop, I chose to sit by a window with a view of the parking lot. And the asphalt of it was so badly cracked that it formed a good sized puddle of rain water. Of course, being in a parking lot, the surface of the puddle was streaked and polluted with oil and other engine fluids.

And yet, as polluted as it was, this puddle served as the main source of drinking water for a pigeon who drank from it just as you would water from a regular fountain.

The image alone is enough to stop you in your tracks.

So, here I was, thinking about the polluted puddle, the pigeon and, yes, the PDF while drinking my coffee (yes, more often than not, I do think about work outside of work). What does one thing have to do with the other?

Well, there are times when you just can’t help but notice the environmental damage involved with your day to day routine. So, you do what you can to help the environment. You convert to a being a habitual recycler, refrain from littering, commute by public transit, and find ways to conserve energy.

And after all that and a few more habit changes, what else can you do? Answer: use the PDF format.


Using the PDF for a Greener Society

One of the major environmental roles of the PDF is that it lowers the production of paper waste. While there are some document printings you can’t avoid, the PDF still decreases the negative environmental impacts of paper waste.

This is one of the motivations behind the paperless office. Businesses are deploying systems that use PDF technology to save on overhead costs, to work with other processing systems and, most importantly, to cut down on the amount of paper being consumed.

With the PDF, you can cut down on paper consumption when you need to print and fax a single sheet. One sheet will double the waste produced—both on your side and the receiver’s side.

Instead of printing up advertisement flyers and office forms, if companies use the PDF format, they would save on the amount of paper actually used to print and distribute them.

Or, if you read more than one newspaper on a daily basis, subscribe to them online instead. Why read and toss when you can read and delete?

Using the PDF may seem like something on a small scale, but, from an environmental and PDF perspective, it’s something that’ll produce big results. After all, the little things add up, right?

So next time you’re thinking about a greener society (and about cleaner drinking puddles), think PDF.

Speaking of “cool” in my last posting, there’s another cool thing you can use to organize your PDF files-- iTunes.

Lately, I’ve been catching snippets of ITunes and PDF in the same sentence, and would never have thought to associate those two words together. But, on giving it a second thought—why not? It’s a digital file you can download, it’s a real handy way of keeping your files organized, and it keeps files at your fingertips if you have your iTunes cranked up on your computer while working.

Eager and curious on my search, I was able to dig up some info and some tips. And testing it out myself on a 2 GB Nano, I was excited at the outcome (I’m very easy to please when I see technology at work).

The simplest way I found to get those PDFs into your library is to open up your iTunes library and then drag and drop the PDF files into it. That’s it. The PDFs will show up listed in your library’s music list with all your other songs.

If you want to separate your music files from your PDF files (because, let’s face it-- what would organization be if your files were all mixed up?), you can create a New Smart Playlist for it as you would a regular playlist for your songs. Just set up the conditions to Kind Contains PDF.

The Alter Ego Of The iPod

And one more cool thing about this. Because the iPod is also a storage device, it can act as an alternative to a USB flash drive. If you download other types of digital files onto it, this means you can also download PDF files directly onto your iPod.

But, don’t get too excited. You’ll first need to convert them into text files first. And, of course, as a text file, there won’t be any cool PDF graphics or images. Just plain text.

Open up the PDF file and within the PDF Reader, simply select the Save as Text option in the File menu on the toolbar. Once you have a copy of the file in the text format, copy and paste them (just like you would with a regular file) into the iPod’s Notes folder which you can access via My Computer. You’ll see it listed as a hard drive. To view it on your iPod, go into Extras where the Notes folder is located.


The iPod may not be a PDA killer, but using it as one is definitely a cool tip.