excerpting from PDF

is one supposed to be able to cut/paste from a PDF? i have incredible problems trying to snag text, and photos are downright hopeless.

i can "highlight" a photo and select "copy", but then there's nothing on the clipboard when i trying "pasting" to a folder afterwards. if it didn't pick up the image in the first place, why don't i get an error msg?

moreover, the trick i USED to use (highlighting and DRAGGING straight to a folder) doesn't work anymore (since adobe update?). again, indicating to me it just didn't pick UP the image.

i prefer foxit since it has tabs, but i have always kept a copy of acrobat around specifically for this reason (never managed to get a photo out of foxit). but now they're equally useless!

i also had a dedicated "extract all images" app, which i may need to resort to again. is there some particular reason acrobat (and foxit) perpetually stymie me on this?

 

again, if it doesn't want me to excerpt stuff, why does it offer things like "copy" up there?

and why do people put out CALENDARS, etc. in this format if ppl can't even grep the info? nothing more annoying than getting a long list of upcoming events, only to find i have to hand-type every last one if i want to save it to another (i.e. txt) file.

 

Greetings, CatT...

The following applies to Adobe Reader 10.1.4 on a Windows 7 platform:

1. Open the .pdf with Reader

2. Click 'Edit'

3. Select 'Take a Snapshot'

4. Using your mouse pointer, drag the highlight around the image you wish to copy. When you release the mouse button, you should get a message: "The selected area has been copied."

5. Paste the copied image into the program of your choice.

I just performed those steps to verify - I highlighted / copied an image in my computer's PDF manual and pasted it into Paint.
.

 

In addition to caliban's excellent tip, here is something else for you:

http://i48.tinypic.com/168u176.jpg

using Foxit:

Top exmple shows how to capture an entire page using the Camera tool (circled in red). Click the tool, click the page and you will see the dialogue box as shown, page will be in the clipboard now, ready for pasting into another application.

Bottom example shows the use of the Text tool. Click the tool, select and copy as usual, again now ready for pasting into another application.

Keep in mind if the the PDF s secured with a password, some or all features may not be available to you. Your option then would be to take a screen shot from windows, use Paint to resize/edit the pic and then paste into the other app. Images taken this way will NOT be editable, and will be imported as graphics.

 

I use Foxit Reader extensively to extract text and/or images from PDF documents for use in military technical manuals and training materials. It is much easier to use than Adobe, and is free.

There are free programs available that will remove the password from a protected PDF file, but lest I violate this site's terms of service, I won't name any.

 

these are not protected documents. and acrobat "allows" me to copy the pix - it's just that they won't "paste" when the time comes.

text, otoh, transfers and pastes just fine...except that it lands all OUT of ORDER! :confused

X-10.1.4, btw.

have not used FoxIt in a while...are you telling me that THAT can now extract pix? that never worked for me before, even when acrobat allowed it.

(DLing fresh copy now)

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btw, thanks for the "snapshot" ideas, but i rly don't want degraded copies when i know the underlying images are JPGs and GIFs to begin with. i'd rather reDL one of those "snag all images" apps, which, afaik, can still get me the actual images.

 

Umm, if you're going to download something else to get the job done, try |MG| Nitro PDF Reader. It will easily do what you want.