TCH-Thomas Posted May 31, 2004 Share Posted May 31, 2004 I am looking for a alternative to Acrobat. I have until now tried PDF995 and Cutepdf but they can only print pdf´s and i need a way to edit them too. Any suggestions greatly apperciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madmanmcp Posted May 31, 2004 Share Posted May 31, 2004 Thomas, since PDF is a file format owned by Adobe finding a program to edit these files will in most cases have to be purchased. I saw a few when I searched google and saw the PDF995 you mentioned, also a EditPDF. If you want full editability you may have to purchase the full Acrobat program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Thomas Posted May 31, 2004 Author Share Posted May 31, 2004 Thanks Madman. However, I was just thinking that since there are programs that can print pdf, there must be cheaper ones who can edit them too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borfast Posted May 31, 2004 Share Posted May 31, 2004 (edited) Thomas, keep in mind that PDF's are not meant to be edited, they're meant as a standard format for sharing printable documents. Think of a PDF document as a printed document. If you want to change something, you open up the program from where you printed the document (a word processor, spreadsheet, whatever), change the document as you need and print it again, right? PDF is supposed to be the same. If you need to change something in a PDF, you open the program from where you created it, change the document and "print" it to PDF again. Adobe Acrobat does have some PDF editing capabilities, so yes, it is possible to edit them but due to the reason stated above, you will not find many programs that allow you to do that. If you only need to do minor changes, Acrobat is the best solution. But buying the whole thing just because of editing a few words or something like that, is not worth the high price. Edited May 31, 2004 by TCH-Raul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Thomas Posted May 31, 2004 Author Share Posted May 31, 2004 But buying the whole thing just because of editing a few words or something like that, is not worth the high price. Exactly. The thing is that i have a pdf (written by me) and i am gonna publish it on my site, so i figured that open it in some editing format and then copy it would save me a lot of time. Acrobat reader have a copy to clipboard option but the text end up as squares and no readable text. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natimage Posted May 31, 2004 Share Posted May 31, 2004 This would probably require completely changing your approach...but I think it is a viable option. goBCL.com provides free conversions to pdf. I've used them about 3 times and have been happy with the results. Maybe you could maintain your document in a different file format (html or doc) and then convert it for publishing. I guess if this is something you intend to update A LOT...this method would take considerably more time. But...it's an idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Thomas Posted May 31, 2004 Author Share Posted May 31, 2004 Thanks Tracy I just uploaded my pdf to try it. Now Im just waiting for my email. tic toc tic toc... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Bruce Posted May 31, 2004 Share Posted May 31, 2004 Here's another alternative. If you print to a post script file you can convert it to a PDF file for free here. http://www.ps2pdf.com/convert/index.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Thomas Posted May 31, 2004 Author Share Posted May 31, 2004 Thanks Bruce. But this one prints to pdf and i need reverse, pdf to whatever... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Bruce Posted May 31, 2004 Share Posted May 31, 2004 OK, guess you don't have the original content prior to the PDF. Well you could keep this link for future reference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Thomas Posted May 31, 2004 Author Share Posted May 31, 2004 I certainly will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natimage Posted June 1, 2004 Share Posted June 1, 2004 Thanks Tracy I just uploaded my pdf to try it. Now Im just waiting for my email. tic toc tic toc... Hope it works for you. I think my first 2 submissions to them took less than a few hours. Then all of a sudden one day it took quite some time! I figure most of the time you get the file back pretty fast. Glad I could be of some help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeJ Posted June 1, 2004 Share Posted June 1, 2004 (edited) The thing is that i have a pdf (written by me) and i am gonna publish it on my site, so i figured that open it in some editing format and then copy it would save me a lot of time. If you wrote the content of the PDF, how did you get it into the PDF format in the first place? Do you not have the source text anymore (or did someone else produce the PDF for you)? As has pretty much been stated, trying to "edit" a PDF is about as easy as attempting to modify a program after it has been compiled. You can pull the text out of it, but you'll lose all the formatting and it won't be the quite the same as the original. If this is just a one time thing, and all you want is the text, PM me, maybe I can extract it for you (I own a copy of Acrobat). Edited June 1, 2004 by TCH-MikeJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Thomas Posted June 1, 2004 Author Share Posted June 1, 2004 (edited) Hope it works for you. I think my first 2 submissions to them took less than a few hours. Then all of a sudden one day it took quite some time! I figure most of the time you get the file back pretty fast.I submitted right away after i read that (but before i published the thank you) but no email that it would be finished yet. If you wrote the content of the PDF, how did you get it into the PDF format in the first place? Do you not have the source text anymore (or did someone else produce the PDF for you)? I used pdf995 to print it to a PDF file. And, no i dont have the source anymore which is the problem. I will try that thing Tracy recommended once more and if not, i will email you it Mike J, if ok? Edited June 1, 2004 by Jikrantz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Thomas Posted June 1, 2004 Author Share Posted June 1, 2004 The goBCL.com seems to have some problems. Does the offer still stands, Mike J? By the way its a swedish document, hope you dont mind? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natimage Posted June 1, 2004 Share Posted June 1, 2004 Thomas...I just uploaded a document to goBCL and it was converted within about 1 minute. Got the email about a minute after that. Maybe you could try re-submitting, and read the comments on their site in the right hand column regarding what to do if you haven't received your document. Of course...your document may be larger than mine, and maybe that has something to do with it. Sorry it didn't work out as well for you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Thomas Posted June 1, 2004 Author Share Posted June 1, 2004 Its not your fault Tracy I just checked, its a 22 kb file. Mike J, I dont need to ask you this favour, but thanks anyway cause i digged a little and i found the source. I had done a backup without me remembering me doing it. Bad Thomas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borfast Posted June 6, 2004 Share Posted June 6, 2004 (edited) Thomas, I found this today and I thought you could find it usefull: http://www.globalpdf.com/pdf2word/ Edited June 6, 2004 by TCH-Raul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Thomas Posted June 6, 2004 Author Share Posted June 6, 2004 (edited) Thanks Raul That looks like it could be good. But one question, it says both "Free download" and "$39.95", do you happen to know which it is? Edited June 6, 2004 by Jikrantz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borfast Posted June 6, 2004 Share Posted June 6, 2004 I'm not sure, Thomas. I suppose it's free, because it's GPL'ed. But you can always download the free version and see if it works for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.