When I copy/paste text from this PDF, the copied text is repeated and sometimes includes additional text. Why is this and how can I fix it? [more inside]
posted by fussbudget on Aug 10, 2012 - 8 answers

perl or sed or awk help for newbie [more inside]
posted by v-tach on Mar 20, 2012 - 26 answers

I have to read a lot of academic papers. They are usually formatted into 2 columns per page. This is fine if I print them out, but when I read them on a computer screen, it is difficult/annoying for me to scroll up and down - I lose my place easily (I recognize this may be unusual). Is there software out there that will strip the text from a pdf into one column (and maybe put all the figures at the end or somewhere)? Like the Readability extension for text on the web, but for pdfs. Maybe a plugin for Adobe Acrobat? Linux or Windows, please. Thanks.
posted by bluefly on Oct 19, 2011 - 6 answers

Help me extract text from a PDF of a Powerpoint presentation! [more inside]
posted by lovedbymarylane on Sep 18, 2011 - 8 answers

Should I have any longevity concerns about .epub files? [more inside]
posted by Joe Beese on Jan 20, 2011 - 4 answers

What are good apps for converting PDFs and other text files to non-PDF text files? [more inside]
posted by GlassHeart on Sep 6, 2010 - 12 answers

I'd like to extract the text and images from a multi-page pdf to use on the web. [more inside]
posted by backwards guitar on Aug 28, 2008 - 2 answers

What are the alternatives to pandoc? I'm looking for tools that will allow me to maintain a large document in a simple plain text format such as markdown and compile it to PDF and HTML. [more inside]
posted by caek on Apr 30, 2008 - 6 answers

How can I import PDF files as editable text in Microsoft OneNote? [more inside]
posted by Pantalaimon on Apr 8, 2008 - 4 answers

I am in need of a server-side Linux or Unix-based software solution that will sort uploaded PDF files that can be PDF-native (that is, created in such a way that the text in the PDF is freely copyable), PDFs with embedded text over images (usually the result of a previous OCR job), and PDF-scanned, which are PDFs containing no text, only scanned images. The PDF-native files and PDFs with embedded text it will extract text from, the PDF-scanned files it will then OCR and export that text. [more inside]
posted by Mo Nickels on Mar 17, 2008 - 4 answers

Are there any software packages or toolkits (preferably open source) available that allow me to automatically extract graphical content (such as pictures, diagrams, graphs, etc.) from batches of PDFs? [more inside]
posted by elbaso on May 9, 2007 - 4 answers

How can I convert a Dynatext book (with SGML exporting capabilities) to something that can be viewed on a web server ? [more inside]
posted by vincentm on Mar 21, 2007 - 4 answers

How can I find real Java software for a Motorola SLVR L7? I've only ever seen stupid games. I need a PDF reader, a text editor, and a French-English dictionary, or else dictd and a dict client. [more inside]
posted by jeffburdges on Feb 20, 2007 - 5 answers

I'm attempting to transcribe some scanned documents. The quality of the .pdf files is low. Is there a way to play around with the images in order to help me make out the mangled words? [more inside]
posted by moira on Jan 15, 2007 - 7 answers

I want to limit the number of lines that users can input in a printable pdf form text field so that there is no overflow/scroll bars or auto-resizing of the text. How can i do that? [more inside]
posted by FidelDonson on Jul 19, 2006 - 2 answers

I need to convert a scanned pdf to searchable text, without printing it out and scanning it back in using OCR. Also, I'd like a cheap or free solution since I'm not likely to use it often ever again.
posted by nomis on May 6, 2004 - 17 answers