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PDF conversion

Get Able2Extract 10.2 with Our Software Advantage Plan

As you may know, our Software Advantage Plan (SAP) is a premium customer support subscription package that comes with a number of perks.

From front of the line service to special discounts, the program makes sure that our customers are well-taken care of and given VIP treatment.

That’s why starting today, all SAP members have exclusive access to our new special build: Able2Extract 10.2!

This build is a small taste of what to expect from our next release, letting you try out new features way ahead of everybody else. Take a quick look at what Able2Extract 10.2 can do with your PDF files.

What Can You Do In Able2Extract 10.2?

On top of the editing features you already have, Able2Extract 10.2 gives you even more ways to modify your PDF content.

Add Bitmap Images

Able2Extract 10.2 will let you insert bitmap image formats directly into your PDF document. That’s right. You can add image formats, such as BMP, JPG, PNG, GIF (only the first frame will be inserted) and TIFF (only the first page will be inserted) to your content. And it’s as simple as clicking the Add Bitmap button, browsing for your image and clicking on Open.

Adding Bitmap Images PDF

Add Vector Shapes

This latest upgrade makes it easy for you to jazz up and add finishing touches your PDF content. You get the ability to add vector graphic shapes directly to your PDF pages. Just click on the Add Shape button and Able2Extract 10.2 will provide you with a selection of shapes to choose from.

Adding Vector Graphics PDF

Customize The Appearance Of Vector Shapes And Text

Because you can now add shapes to your content and could modify your text with different color, it only makes sense to let you customize your vector shape or text.

Able2Extract 10.2  comes with Outline with Color, Fill with Color and Line Width options, giving you the ability to modify the appearance of your text or vector shapes in detail.  By selecting a custom outline color, a fill color, and increasing the line width, you can give your content a visual boost with a few clicks.

Before:

Customizing PDF Content

After:

Customized PDF Content

Rotate Content Objects

Another editing option only available from Able2Extract 10.2 is the ability to rotate vector shapes, bitmap images and text. You can orient these content objects 90 degrees to the left or right, and even rotate them a complete 180 degrees as needed.

Convert AutoCAD Raster to Vector

And we didn’t stop at content editing. Able2Extract Professional 10.2 comes with a new Raster-to-Vector conversion engine for AutoCAD that allows you to convert scanned AutoCAD PDFs to vector drawings that can be edited.

Start taking advantage of Able2Extract 10.2. Existing members can simply log into their SAP account to access the build. And if you aren’t signed up yet, now’s the time.

Subscribe To Software Advantage Program

You can subscribe to the Software Advantage Plan online. The Software Advantage Program comes with premium support features that cover both Able2Extract Standard and Able2Extract Professional. For only $39.95 a year, you get:

  • Priority support via phone and email
  • Access to a personalized web portal
  • Free Access to all minor products updates and major upgrades
  • Exclusive access to new, unreleased product builds
  • Special volume discounts

Once we receive your order, you’re all set. You can start using your Software Advantage account immediately.

As a regular customer, you won’t be able to access any of these features until our next release. So join the program now and get in on Able2Extract 10.2!

How To Export A Table From PDF AutoCAD Drawing Into Excel?

Part 2 of 13 in our How To Use AutoCAD series

Working with PDF documents is difficult. Just working with the data itself can be time consuming. This is especially true when you need to extract something as precise as a PDF table into Excel. It requires that data to be transferred, cell by cell correctly into a spreadsheet, formatted perfectly and faithfully to the original.

So you can imagine how exporting a table from a PDF drawing to Excel is somewhat more complicated than exporting a table straight from AutoCAD to Excel.

However, this can be easily accomplished with Able2Extract’s “Custom PDF to Excel” conversion feature.

You can download the 7 day free trial and follow the steps below to export your table.

1.Open your PDF drawing with Able2Extract.

2. In the select panel, click on “Area”. Left click and drag to mark the table that you would like to export.

Selecting PDF Drawing Content

3. Once selected, click on “Excel”.

4. You’ll be presented with a Convert to Excel panel. Export simple tables automatically by clicking “Convert”. For now, stick to the Custom conversion and hit “Define”.

PDF Drawing Table Conversion

5. Now you have a complete control over your PDF to Excel conversion. Use the toolbar on the right to add and remove output columns and rows. When satisfied, check the “Show Preview” box to review your results.

6. Click “Convert” and save the file.

PDF To Excel Results

Converting AutoCAD tables to Excel may sound like a complicated procedure at first, but with the right tool, you can easily maneuver around that obstacle and work with any AutoCAD tables you come across.

Personalized AutoCAD Workflows vs. Industry Trends

Industrial Technical Drawing

Believe it or not, as advanced and cutting edge as CAD industry workflows seem to be, they evolve and change slowly, if ever. And one thing that certainly never changes for CAD designers is time.

It becomes an even more precious commodity when it’s intertwined with a company’s productivity and deadlines are a priority. As you can imagine, to change up CAD workflows and systems costs not only time, but money and resources, as well.

One such work trend in the CAD industry, for instance, is cloud based technology. Though cloud based tech is heavily advocated in other industries, cloud based CAD is a highly debated topic in the CAD niche. CAD professionals, in fact, are generally resistant to it.

The Resistance To Cloud-Based CAD Workflow Trends

The resistance to cloud-based CAD technology is growing. Robert Green, Cadalyst.com columnist and CAD consultant, sums up the issue of the resistance to Cloud-Based CAD that covers the growing trend in the industry.

In sum, there are key business trends that are keeping companies  from implementing them. This skepticism is for a few reasons, the overarching theme of them being data centralization on the cloud.

Online CAD tools and software flavours have only been coming out over the past few years. And, as with any industry, full adoption of it relies on many existing factors including: cost, software ownership, network security, and prioritizing risk reduction over cost reduction.

Other notable factors include the fact that the cloud is a slow internet-based platform, which will primarily affect the commonly bloated file transmissions the CAD industry is known for. And quite obviously, using such a platform puts users who don’t have the best connection or hardware at a disadvantage.

Naturally, the topic of Green’s article incited a number of comments and reactions from CAD readers. One significant point readers highlighted is that CAD users “don’t appreciate having their software choices dictated to them. The level of disdain for software companies forcing a cloud-based software model onto their customers is palpable.”

It’s also understandable.  How one designer works will always play a major role in deciding what new, more advanced workflows and software can be implemented. Not the other way around.

Freedom To Choose A PDF to DWG Converter

Flight Homes’ timber designer, Paul Erickson, is a real world example of this freedom of software choice in action. And in his case, his choice of software gave him the weekly advantage he needed for projects each week, something that wouldn’t have been possible if the software was chosen for him.

Flight Timber Products Ltd. is a leading construction company in the United Kingdom.  The Flight Timber team struggled with re-entering their PDF drawings manually into AutoCAD, the main productivity and time killer.

Flight Timber Designer

“As successful engineering service providers, the Flight Timber team regularly deals with a variety of PDF files,” says Paul Erickson, designer for Flight Timber Products. “Every employee in the company has their own document management workflow and preferred software.”

And as a CAD designer himself, he tested out a number of converters which never generated the results he needed. He finally discovered and chose Able2Extract as his preferred PDF converter.

Personalizing The CAD Workflow With Able2Extract

In this case study, we take a close look at exactly what the effect of choosing one’s own tools has on a personalized CAD workflow.  Paul Erickson cites benefits from using Able2Extract, which include:

  • 6 hours of time saved per week.
  • Quick and accurate conversions.
  • Interaction with knowledgeable customer service.
  • Easier PDF management.
  • Added bonus of converting PDF to Word for files issued for production.

Read the full Flight Homes case study here and read about how one PDF tool became the data extraction solution for one CAD designer.

Meet Able2Extract 10: The Next Level of Data Extraction

We’re happy to announce today that Able2Extract 10 has just been released!

Continuing from the innovation and success of the last version, Able2Extract 10 comes with a number of great features. With PDF creation and editing you wouldn’t think that it could get any more advanced than it already is.  But it has!

Able2Extract 10 Boxshot

With this latest version, we’ve pulled out all the stops. You’ll find a lot of new PDF power features that will improve your PDF productivity and business intelligence workflow by more than half.

From PDF editing to improved Excel conversion, Able2Extract 10 has all the PDF capabilities you’ll ever need to keep up with your work. Get a good look at what the new Able2Extract 10 has to offer.

Convert Any Format Directly Into Excel

We’ve always known that highly valuable information can come in any format, not just PDF. So  to prevent you from missing out on accurate data assessments, we’ve included the ability for you to convert almost any format directly to Excel!

Able2Extract PowerPoint To Excel

Extracted Data In Excel

So whether you have a table in Word or information locked away in an XPS file, you can now get that data into an Excel spreadsheet and perform your analysis on complete data sets.

Just simply open your file and select your content as usual and choose the PDF to Excel conversion command from the toolbar.

Convert To PDF CSV Instantly

For those who work closely with raw data and text formats, you’ll be happy to know that Able2Extract 10 now has the ability to convert directly to CSV and TSV from the toolbar. In a nutshell, you can now integrate Able2Extract 10 directly into the analysis stage of your workflow.

Able2Extract PDF To CSV

This is especially handy for data extractions that are used in analytical software programs on the enterprise level. You can even copy to clipboard in RTF/CSV format. Your information analysis can be done more quickly as Able2Extract eliminates the need to convert to Excel and then export to CSV. 

Split And Merge PDFs Precisely Page-By-Page

For the first time, Able2Extract now has the ability to split and merge PDF files. We’ve made the process simple by allowing you to insert and extract the PDF pages themselves.

Split And Merge PDFs

Insert PDF pages from an already existing PDF on your computer or extract PDF pages from the currently opened PDF into a separate file.  Your original source PDF isn’t modified.  This makes assembling  and breaking up PDF documents for professional or personal use simple and hassle free.

Edit PDF Text On The Spot

Able2Extract 10 will finally let you edit the text directly within the PDF document. You can delete, add, and move existing text in a WYSIWYG editor, making instant corrections to PDF text.

Editing Text In PDF

As you can see you can match the font, text colour and size directly from the side editing panel, making seamless modifications to professional documents.  To boot, your changes are immediately visible, so you can see the edited content you’re converting.  

Resize PDF Pages To Meet Any Business Standard

Because the PDF is the standard used to communicate important content with companies from different industries, following each industry’s document requirements is important. For instance, print publishers, legal proceedings or marketing departments, will need specifically sized PDF pages. And this is why we’ve provided you with the ability to select your PDF page size from the start.

Resizing Pages With Able2Extract

Whether you need legal, letter or executive sized documents, you can adjust your PDF pages as easily as you can convert them. Resize your pages to paper sizes compatible with ANSI, ISO and ARCH specifications.  You can even graphically reposition the content of your page, if needed.  

This combination of page resizing options makes  it so that your PDF can work with any type of businesses, no matter which industry standards they follow.

Convert PDF To Excel More Accurately  

For even more precise and accurate data extraction into Excel, we’ve updated the PDF to Excel conversion engine. When you convert to Excel, Able2Extract now provides you with a variety of sub options to choose from.

Able2Extract Excel Conversion Settings

When you convert a PDF table, Able2Extract will better analyze how the source document  and its tables are  structured so you get even more refined PDF to Excel conversion results than before!

Improved OCR Technology For Highly Accurate Text Renditions

With Able2Extract Professional, we’ve also improved the OCR engine, providing you with more accurate renditions of broken text when converting scanned PDFs.  Professionals who need to use legacy information trapped in hard copy can now merge that data with digital data for complete and accurate business intelligence analysis.

Given everything this latest version has, you’ll be looking at your PDF work in a different–hopefully easier, light.  

Take it for a test drive yourself. Download the free 7 day trial and get your PDF productivity going!

Document Storage And Data Extraction Needs For Accountants

In the world of accounting, document handling and management are important. Everything is now highly digitized and it’s now necessary for accounting firms to adjust to an ever growing world of digital data.

To do so, there are many best practices and standards that all accounting firms are encouraged to follow for dealing with document and financial data.

Successful Document Storage Options For Accounting Firms

Major accounting resource sites like AccountingToday.com, for example, emphasizes the importance for document management in the accounting industry by outlining factors for one important area: document storage.

In addition to security and liability among other factors, they place emphasis on file type, and in particular, the PDF format for archival purposes, on their list of factors for successful document storage.

Floppy Disk Saved Files

And this is a great point that needs to be highlighted. As a PDF solutions company, we know the format’s excellent and effective capabilities for archiving. Whether clients decide to password protect the file or selectively lock down what users can do with the content, your clients’ financial data is faithfully and securely available to only you and your intended recipients.  

The Double Edged Sword: Archiving And Data Extraction

However, this also sheds light on one important point about the PDF format. The data that is accurately preserved can also be extracted just as faithfully. This is the PDF format’s main strength for accountants. 

Accountants will often find that PDF documents are not only used at the starting and end points of the process, but also at points in the workflow that come in between–during  the data analysis step.  But as you can imagine, this part of the process, which deals with data that’s already in archival format, can be the number one cause for backlogs in the workflow.

And accounting companies are highly aware of this. The accountants at JMPA (Jewell Muller Professional Accountants), who specialize in tax and accounting services in South Africa, for instance, struggled with the issue themselves.

PDF Bank Statements Need Editing

JMPA provides accounting solutions to small businesses. Being a technology dependent company, they rely on software tools to get their work done. However, they need to work with and edit the data stored in archival PDFs first.

CEO JMPA

“Almost all our documents are PDF bank statements that need to be imported to our accounting software,” explains JMPA CEO Cassie Muller. “Before we can do that, we have to edit them in Excel, which is where we had our first obstacle.”

Their search for a PDF converter solution led them to Able2Extract, which helped them speed up the management of PDF documents.

In our case study with JMPA, we took a close look at how data extraction played a factor in their document management process and what it meant for the company overall. JMPA highlighted some of the benefits of using Able2Extract:

  • Reduced processing time by 85%
  • Saved 80% of money on wages
  • Improved delivery time to clients by 90%
  • Converted 7 months’ worth of bank statements in minutes

In sum, knowing how your accounting company works with all kinds of documents is one of the keys to success. Because being efficient with your document process has an effect on the rest of your firm’s efficiency, be sure to explore all of your software options for storing and extracting document data. With JMPA, they were able to resolve the one factor holding them back with a single PDF converter tool.

Read the full JMPA case study and learn how they managed to improve their document management system in detail .