It’s sometimes taken for granted that the default.docx format can be used by all. Simply clicking on the Save icon, or pinky-middle fingering CTRL + S on the keyboard comes naturally and on instinct.

However, without the Office 2007 plug-in or viewer, you’re at a loss for opening, editing—or heck, even simply viewing, a .docx file on the fly. A real problem indeed if you’re at a public computer or on the go with a mobile device.

Well, no need to look any further for a solution because we’ve been hard at work and have developed a fully functional .Docx to .Doc converter. 

A key issue for both PDF users and Word users alike is the ability to edit. While the PDF user is concerned with preventing it, a Word user demands it. Whether it’s concern for saving the content of a file or for accessing it, Investintech.com tries to assist both.

However, sometimes we get questions and issues that can’t be resolved, which actually make for a good opportunity to clarify a few things about the PDF format itself. For instance, one Able2Extract-PDF-Word user sent in a question that reads:

When a PDF is converted back into a MS Word Document, can the changes that were made to the Word Document (before it was converted to a PDF initially) be seen?

Further details on the upcoming Acrobat 9 have been rising to the surface. And highlighted among the rumoured additions is integration with a new forms data-tracking service.The feature will give companies and PDF form creators an efficient way of handling the inputted data they collect.

Yet, as a user who fills those PDF forms out, you may be concerned with a simpler, more fundamental issue: can you transform those PDF forms into fill-able Word Documents?

When you want to convert your PDF content, you want it coming out clean and crisp, as accurate as the original file. Yet, imagine for a moment, the possibility that your converted content can turn out better than the original.

Thus, being able to do something like animate static content is definitely a plus. Able2Extract has the ability to do this with its support for PDF to GIF conversion.

Alongside the usual image conversion options, Able2Extract has a Multipage image option available for image conversions. This can be used to animate static images by animating them in a way similar to how a flipbook animates hand drawn pictures.

To animate your static PDF images, follow these steps:

1) Open your PDF or XPS document that contains a multipage image in Able2Extract v.5.0.

2) Select the page, pages or a page range of your multipage image.

While Adobe AIR was being released to the public a week ago, Microsoft was also busy with the BRM (Ballot Resolution Meeting) for OOXML. Nothing official was published or decided as the BRM concluded in controversy.

However, with OOXML in the spotlight, XPS is still in the wings.

The XPS format, submitted to ecma International in 2007, is still in review for its own standardization. The format is based on the same Open Packaging Conventions as the Office 2007 OOXML formats--OOXML formats users are currently trying to deal with.

As the new 2008 year rolls on, so does the work and no doubt, the PDF conversions as well.  Don’t worry, we’re at it too.  And every now and again, amidst troubleshooting  and developing, we get an email from clients having difficulties with AutoCAD PDFs:

 

“I downloaded and installed your Pro version as a trial.  When I tried to convert a PDF file which was an AutoCAD drawing scanned and saved as such, it seems as if it was working but it opens Excel and nothing is converted in�

 

If you’re experiencing or have experienced the same problem without any luck, don’t give up yet.  Here’s a conversion tip: try resizing the image-based/scanned PDF.

 

This is because AutoCAD files are usually created with huge page dimensions that measure up to 30" by 40". In addition, it is difficult for the OCR engine to determine the size (in points) of any letter on an OCR page.  So the OCR engine is oftentimes unable to extract legible text from AutoCAD documents due to the small text size (hence the empty Excel output).

 

The only way it can determine the size of the text is by comparing it relative to the size of a stated PDF page which the OCR engine can read and support. The OCR engine in Able2Extract Professional  can only support AutoCAD file dimensions of up to  22� by 22�. 

 

To resize the PDF:

 

1)  Open the PDF in either Adobe Reader or Acrobat

2)  Select File > Print

3)  Change the Printer Name to 'Adobe PDF' in the drop box

4)  Under the Page Scaling section ensure that ‘Choose Paper Source by PDF page size’ is deselected

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5) Click OK to print a new PDF

 

You can also resize the PDF with our trial version of Sonic PDF Creator 2.0 (a free download version is available as well).  After installing Sonic, select ‘Sonic PDF’ as a printer (as opposed to Adobe PDF in step 3).

 

After you’ve resized the PDF, try the conversion again.

 

Hope this tip helps!

 

 

 

Last time in this series, I gave you a sense of what you could do with your Excel conversions. With the Excel Special option, you could tailor the file output of your PDF to Excel conversion. With the Excel Custom Conversion option, you were able to designate a specific Excel document structure. What else can you do?

As if these features weren’t enough, there are Excel output options available that let you customize the Excel document’s appearance. This last posting in the series will give you an introduction to some of the features that allow you to do just that.

Under The View Menu

The following features can be found under the View menu, and will need to be set before you perform the actual conversion.

*Excel Single Worksheet—This option is set on as a default. It will convert PDF pages of your PDF to a single worksheet. Uncheck it, and it will convert each page of a multipage PDF into a workbook of separate worksheets.

*Excel Fonts—If your PDF has special fonts or colours and you need to retain them, turn this option on. If not, the PDF to Excel converter will use MS Excel fonts.

* Excel Spacing—This feature will modify the spacing of the columns of your conversion.


Options And MS Excel Output


There are also other options that can further tailor the appearance of your data conversion. To set these from the View>Options. . . . Here’s a listing of what you can do with the Output options:

*Trailing Minus Sign Treatment—Negative values are sometimes displayed with the negative sign to the right of the number. This function will let you convert the document with the minus sign at the beginning of the line.

*European Continental Settings—In some cases, the function of the decimal and the comma is reversed, where, for example, “1.000� represents one thousand and “0,85� for the equivalent 85/100, indicating a fractional value. This function will reverse that notational function to mean “1,000� and “0.85�.

*Enable Choose Column Type Dialog (Custom Excel Conversion)—When this is selected, you can use text formatting to store the values, skip columns altogether, or use default formatting.

*Enable Table Unfolding (Treat Rows As Columns And Vice Versa)—If you need to change the table set up, turning this function on will let you change the column headings into rows, and vice versa. The cell data will also be rearranged accordingly with the column and row headings to retain the integrity of the table.

*Retain Dollar Sign As Separate Symbol—Use this option to retain separate “$� symbols in the converted document.


And our upgraded version has a few extra Excel conversion features that might also come in handy:

*Use Text Format For Dates—When converting some documents, dates may be converted into numbers. Turn this function on to preserve the date in Text.

*Load Custom Excel Template and Save Custom Excel Template—With these features, you can save any custom conversion you make as a template. Select Save Custom Excel Template from the File menu once you have the column and row lines in the desired place. To use it later on, simply load it with the Load Custom Excel Template option when you convert tables with similar formatting.


A few tips about these functions:

*The Excel spacing will affect the appearance of the information within the cells. Depending on your data, some textual information may get cut off. Conduct a few trial tests with this option first for the visual output you want.

*Setting the features will be applied to all documents that are opened afterwards once it is set as the default.

*Using the Enable Custom Column Type to choose Text formatting for columns, the affected columns and cells in the spreadsheet will be noted in the Excel manner--with an indicator and with the value aligned to the left of the cell.

*When saving a custom template, the headers and footers you set are kept. Thus, if the template is being used for tables with similar column patterns, but varying lengths, you will need to make minor readjustments before you convert.


If you haven’t tried these features out yet, just take the time out to fiddle around with them, see what works best for your documents. You’ll be converting like a pro in no time!

If you convert PDFs on a regular basis, you’ll know that every PDF to Excel conversion is different. There are some that require a bit more attention than most. These are the conversions that don’t go too well the first time around with misaligned cells, skewed data output, poor formatting around headers and footers, or partial data conversions.

Able2Extract has a Custom Conversion feature that allows you to designate and set the formatting for PDF to Excel conversions that reduce these extraction problems significantly. This usage tip explains how.

1) Open the PDF to be converted within Able2Extract (Able2Extract Professional for scanned PDFs). Select the content to be converted.

2) Click on the Convert to Excel option. You’ll be given a choice to perform either an Automatic conversion or a Custom conversion. Select Custom, then click on Convert.

3 ) What follows will be a preview of your document with a grid of lines placed over the highlighted selection. These are the column and row lines which you can add, adjust, or delete altogether.

Although the startup wizard does contain instructions to guide you, here’s a little preview of what you’ll need to do when adding, removing or adjusting lines—which requires some mouse dexterity if you’re not used to right clicking!

• Adding lines—right click in the designated space where you want to add a line
• Remove lines—double right click on the line
• Adjust lines— right click and hold on the column line, then drag to move it

4) Once you have the lines in place, click on the Excel conversion icon again.


A few things to be aware of while using this conversion method:

*Although you’re custom converting to avoid misalignment between cells and data, you may still encounter some columns striking through your converted content that result from the vertical line placement and difference in multiple table formats. You can resolve this with a tip that was previously posted.

However, with our next version release, you’ll have the option of correcting the strikethroughs automatically where Able2Extract will produce another conversion which will readjust the results for your Excel output.

*With multiple data selections using the Custom conversion option, be aware that when you adjust the vertical column lines for one table, you’re also designating the formatting for any other tables you have selected. This issue usually plays a role in the data being struck through with vertical lines.

*In such cases where the formatting for multiple tables differ, it might be more appropriate to use the Convert to Special feature where you can convert each individual table and customize separate table formats. This way you can still perform custom conversions and export them into the same Excel file as well.

*The two adjustable horizontal lines will eliminate any headers and footers that occur between the pages when the selected content is spread over more than one page. Able2Extract will perform the conversion with empty Excel rows separating the tables to signify any page breaks that are in the original document.


Next up, will be a spotlight on the various Excel conversion output options which you can use to tailor that conversion process even more. Stay tuned!

When you want to convert whole documents into PDF, the process is as simple as selecting the entire file content. Yet, as you know, most conversions won’t be that simple. You need versatile conversion options—ones that can nimbly extract PDF content into complex formatting, such as Excel spreadsheets. Well, Able2Extract has a few conversion features and options that can make complex PDF to Excel conversions easy.


In this first of three parts, the spotlight goes to one neat little feature where you can convert PDF content into already existing Excel documents. The Convert to Excel Special conversion option is flexible enough to allow you to continue adding onto an XLS spreadsheet starting at 1) a certain cell on the same worksheet , or 2) a certain cell on a different worksheet.


Here’s how:

1) In Able2Extract, open your PDF, and highlight/make a selection of the content to be converted.

2) Select File> Convert to Excel Special.

3) In the Existing XLS File space, browse for and open the Excel file into which you want to insert your selected content. Click on Next.

4) What follows is a listing of the pages/worksheets available within that Excel file. Select the worksheet page on which you want to place the selected content. Click on Next.

5) Enter in the cell coordinates where you want to insert the content once it’s been converted. Note that if you select a cell that already contains data, the conversion will over write the information in the designated cell of the existing excel file. Click on Finish.


Able2Extract will generate a completely new XLS file with both the old and the newly added content merged together (you will need to resave the file every time you add new content to it). This option is handy if you need to compile data from different PDFs into one single resource. It gives you precise XLS spreadsheet assembly and PDF to Excel conversion.


Stick around and you’ll learn how to further customize that PDF to Excel conversion as the next two parts will cover the Custom Excel conversions and Excel Conversion Options. In the meantime, try this feature out, if you haven’t already, and see how it works for your PDF to Excel conversions.

When you’re considering whether to buy a PDF converter program or not, making the right choice is difficult, especially if you’re sitting on the fence about why you should purchase a conversion product or not to begin with.

You may think that since you’re not a heavy PDF user you don’t really need one, or that you’ll pay a bundle for one then rarely use the program, or that you can get along fine without one since there are other methods that can save you the money.

Well, if you need a little encouragement to justify the purchase of a PDF converter (and do away with the lingering doubt), here it is—ten reasons for you to buy a PDF converter (in no specific order):

1) PDFs Aren’t Editable

PDF converters are primarily used for making PDF content accessible. Major editing or analysis is what most PDF content requires if the format is used for transmission. PDF converters can save you all the retyping and data input. You can extract PDF content into other editable formats where you can perform the needed analysis easily.

2) Access, Generate And Work In Different Formats

Freeing up the locked down PDF content leads into another benefit that PDF converters provide: choice of format. There are many diverse formats to which the PDF format can now be converted. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, RTF and HTML are just a short list of the common ones which you can generate. It’s ultimately up to you and your work.

3) Going Paperless With Your Files

PDF converters are a simple solution for creating a personal e-filing system. With a PDF converter, you can manage PDF files and document information more effectively. A PDF converter is a good way to keep down the paper consumption and keep your edited work in digital files with the least amount of hassle.

4) The PDF Is A De Facto Standard

What does that mean? By common and popular usage, the PDF is the format professionals turn to when data needs to be kept in tact while being transmitted for review. The PDF is being used across industries, and converting PDF content is inevitably part of that usage. Having a PDF converter will allow you to integrate into such workflows effortlessly.

5) PDF Popularity

Take into consideration that PDFs are now created not just by professionals, but by ordinary end users for ordinary purposes. PDFs are being used on personal webpages for posting documents and miscellaneous content that are impractical as HTML pages. And at one point, you might need to convert those documents in order to use them.

6) Repurposing That PDF Data Completely

Opening PDFs in Adobe Acrobat Professional, you can perform minor editing. However, doing that won’t give you the ability to completely repurpose the content; PDF converters will. You can eliminate those makeshift extractions that constantly leave you frustrated in the end.

7) PDF Converters As A Long Term Solution

Admittedly, free converters online are great for quick, one time conversions. Free trials are also great for trying out products. Yet, neither are great for long term solutions. These converters are oftentimes limited, or will restrict your PDF conversions to being done online. With a proper PDF converter, you’ll have unlimited access and the ability to work offline whenever you choose.

8 ) An Investment That’s Worth The Time And Money

Time matters. The money you spend matters. Yet, if you don’t have a PDF converter, you’ll find yourself spending a lot of both looking for other alternatives, alternatives that are perhaps not the best choice. Buying a good PDF converter is a worthwhile investment. Even if you occasionally use PDFs for research or collaboration, it makes working with those PDFs a lot easier.

9) PDF Converters As Learning Tools

It’s general knowledge that you can benefit from everything you do. Expand on what you know about the PDF by learning how to convert one. You'll learn more about the ins and outs of the PDF than you normally would without a proper PDF converter.

10) PDF Converter Features

PDF conversion features in most applications go beyond the basic one-time quick conversion, and even increase the quality of your conversions. Batch conversions, OCR technology, page extractions, conversion settings—customize your PDF extractions with versatile features and get more out of the conversions you need.



So if you’re now convinced and ready to buy a PDF converter, start looking!

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.

In addition to selecting the text you need to convert, another one of the control features of our software is a Custom option for PDF to Excel conversions, allowing you to manually position the vertical lines of the columns you need.


Yet, as you know, despite the control you have over the conversion, it doesn’t necessarily mean being free from technical difficulties.


There have been cases, while using this Custom conversion option, where a user receives a pop up message that reads, “WARNING: some of the data items selected are interrupted by vertical lines etc.� This is usually taken for an error message alerting the user that something has gone wrong with the conversion or has been stopped altogether.


It hasn’t. In this case, the Custom Excel conversion is completed. The message is a warning that the custom placed vertical lines have crossed through certain strings of selected text being converted. If the pages are crooked, then the vertical lines will go through the text at the wrong places (i.e. intersect columns).


If this happens, check to see if those sections were converted and placed in the correct columns.


If there are sections or pages that are skewed (which is sometimes the case for scanned pages), then you must rescan the pages, provided that you have a good copy of the original, and try converting the Excel document again.


However small this tip might be, I hope it helps.

Nothing like a Friday to sit back and blog your heart out, mulling over PDF issues in a quiet corner. I think a simple topic today would be a good way to end this long week (don’t all weeks seem long when you’ve finally hit a Friday?).


Where to start? What to choose? I think a response to Investintech user myths might be good.


Sometime ago, a client experienced a setback, trying to convert a document with the misconception that our software could create a Word/Excel document from a PDF, which could then look and function like an electronic form.


Essentially, the client tried to convert the PDF in order to save the time and effort (and WhiteOut) of manually filling in multiple copies of the same form by filling it in electronically and then printing it out in hard copy. Sorry to say, but that trick won’t work with our software.


Able2Extract and Able2Doc can’t convert native or scanned PDF files into “fill-able� Word documents. It only creates an editable document when you convert a PDF.


So, if you try to type into the fields of a converted PDF form, you’ll only shift the box, line, space etc. over with every keystroke you make. But, we’ve noted down the issue as a potential development path for our software in the future. So keep checking in with us when you can.


There are many conversion misconceptions out there. If this one was yours, sorry to burst your hopeful bubble.


But, on the bright side—TGIF! (cue in your favourite song and fade to black. . .)

Yes, I know--the security thing all over again. I probably have you booing at the title already. Well go head, but this might help you out with your PDF conversions.

How did I get back to this topic? There was an article just last month on eWeek.com reporting hacking possibilities through the exploitation of an Adobe PDF file. It's been on the radars since July with hints that it could be possible to launch computer attacks via PDFs that are opened in Adobe Reader. Having read that, the situation seems like all the other “beware� stories concerning security (potential attack through commonly used software).

Yet, how about a new spin on that security issue--the conversion spin: Can security features have an effect on the conversion of a PDF? The answer is yes.

While you safely secure your PDFs to ensure the integrity of the file, the same features may actually prevent you from successfully converting it. Of course, if you think about it, it makes sense that it should do so. Thus, ironically, the PDFs you’re handling may be a little too safe.

Generally, security features will exist for native PDF files only. Users can check this to be sure: open the PDF in Adobe Reader, select the Document Properties command under the File menu, and select the Security tab (in particular, content copying and extract should be allowed).

Trying to convert a secured PDF will usually result in fatal error messages, blank document conversions, documents with garbage text, encryption errors, etc.

Minor restrictions, like simple open password protected PDFs, you can solve with simple enough solutions—the password. Unfortunately our software can't convert PDFs with more advanced security features.

From the user standpoint, it can undoubtedly be an annoyance. Yet, from the creator standpoint, the job is well done. So, if you’re having any of the above problems while converting—heads up! It may be that security thing again.

It’s August. It’s summer. And it’s sunny outside. Not too hot, not too chilly A really nice day and way too easy to get distracted by just looking out the window.

And amidst the lazy summer days of popsicles and vacations, the (work) beat goes on. Stretch out the sluggishness and take a deep breath. . . .We’re at it too, fielding questions and troubleshooting tech queries—armed with a coke slushee in one hand and a mouse in the other. So bring it on. . . .

We received a tech question recently (from a client who “brought it�) that’ll serve as a good tip to keep in mind when converting your PDFs.

A client was trying to convert a PDF into another format and claimed that the PDF didn’t convert properly at all. The PDF, when opened in our software, displayed gibberish/garbage text, “even though it opened and looked fine on Acrobat�.

The issue here was that the native PDF contained some damaged fonts, in which case Acrobat Reader just draws the letters, but doesn’t recognize them.

If you’ve encountered this problem-- or ever do in the future, you can check to see if the fonts are damaged or not by selecting a part of the PDF in question and copying it by using the Copy command under the Edit menu of the Adobe Reader (first, ensure that you are in Select mode: Tools> Basic> Select Text).

Then open MS Word or Notepad and paste the pattern. If the fonts are undamaged, the should turn out readable. Our software will recognize this and therefore doesn’t show damaged fonts properly in the viewer even though Adobe can.

If, however, our software viewer does display the fonts correctly in the software viewer (even when the fonts are clearly damaged in the original PDF), then the user can use the Professional versions of our software to enable the OCR engine to generate the conversion, treating the native/original PDF document as an image file.

So you can still get your conversion done with such PDFs, although you’ll get it through a different approach. For future cases, if a conversion doesn’t come out right, first check that the PDFs you’re converting are properly made as successful conversions rely on the original PDF itself (its security, fonts, scan quality, etc.).

It’ll go a long way to save you the extra frustration in trying out different methods to get the conversion done. More importantly, it’ll help you get your work done quicker so you can enjoy the rest of the day.

(*slurp, sluurp*, *click*. . . )

Have fun!