Comments on: Convert pdf > doc

Question: Convert pdf > doc

teem — Sun, 14 Aug 2005 17:39:47 -0800

I need a way to convert a pdf file to a Microsoft Word (.doc) file. It has to be free, preferably online if possible, and if there is no suitable online version it should be compatible with OS X. Any suggestions?

By: klarck

klarck — Sun, 14 Aug 2005 18:25:00 -0800

You might try PDFonline to get from .pdf to .doc by way of html. At any rate, it's not a bad site to have bookmarked.

By: nathan_teske

nathan_teske — Sun, 14 Aug 2005 18:28:33 -0800

Are you on OS X? If so you can just do it via the print window.

By: blag

blag — Sun, 14 Aug 2005 18:29:28 -0800

Or email the pdf to pdf2txt@adobe.com and receive a text version of the document back within minutes.

By: themadjuggler

themadjuggler — Sun, 14 Aug 2005 18:30:23 -0800

I think you've got that backwards, nathan_teske, the standard print dialog box includes a "Save as PDF" button.

By: nathan_teske

nathan_teske — Sun, 14 Aug 2005 18:31:35 -0800

Doh never mind, I misread.

By: Rothko

Rothko — Sun, 14 Aug 2005 19:58:15 -0800

Since Acrobat 5, you can save PDF files as RTF (rich text format) documents, which can be opened with Microsoft Word.

Alternatively, you can use an application like OmniPage Pro to directly convert PDF to Word .doc via its OCR functionality.

By: The Jesse Helms

The Jesse Helms — Sun, 14 Aug 2005 20:33:33 -0800

Open Office does all sorts of conversions, and is free.

By: odinsdream

odinsdream — Sun, 14 Aug 2005 21:01:26 -0800

That's a nice resource, thanks blag!

By: stevil

stevil — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 09:11:21 -0800

Can the creator of a PDF file prevent this conversion?

By: Rothko

Rothko — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 13:46:26 -0800

Sure, just make the PDF from noisy image files.

By: blag

blag — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 17:44:20 -0800

stevil: "Can the creator of a PDF file prevent this conversion?"

Yes, but only through Adobe's built-in protection. There are various tools out there that will strip all Adobe DRM from PDFs so you're back to square one. It should provide protection against the less tech-savvy users, though.

By: odinsdream

odinsdream — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 07:21:02 -0800

stevil, why would you want to do such a thing, that's horribly unfriendly...

By: parallax7d

parallax7d — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 09:27:54 -0800

Well the PDF could be a govermental form they do not want edited for one.