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Tip: Selecting Text in a PDF

Posted on August 10, 2010 by Duff Johnson in Talking PDF
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  • Tip: Selecting Text in a PDF

There are many ways to extract text from a PDF file for use in other documents. Choose carefully; not all PDF viewers are alike!

Here we provide a quick review of how the leading free PDF viewers get the job done.

selecting text across columnsTo select text that spans columns

PDF files sometimes seem REALLY stupid because a PDF file has no concept of a “column”. If the file is tagged, a tags-aware viewer is all set.  If the file isn’t tagged, it’s up to the software to attempt to “find” the columns.  Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

  1. Open a PDF file with at least two columns of text.
  2. Place your mouse (or cursor insertion point) at the end (or beginning) of the text you want to copy on one column.
  3. Swipe the mouse (or use the arrow-keys) to select text from both columns. The highlight that shows your selection progress will indicate whether your Reader is selecting text in correct order.  For a final check, copy and paste the resulting text into a text-editor, and see whether it makes any sense.

Adobe Reader: Pass

Apple Preview: Pass

Foxit Reader:  Fail (selects text as zoned by the mouse, no awareness of columns)

gDoc Fusion:  Fail (selects text as zoned by the mouse, no awareness of columns)

Google Viewer: Fail (selects text as zoned by the mouse, no awareness of columns)

Nitro PDF Reader:  Pass

Nuance PDF Reader:  Pass

PDF X-Change Viewer:  Pass

To select all the text on a single page

PDF files may be displayed in a number of different ways to suit a variety of reading experiences. One of these choices is whether to display a single page at a time or to present a continuous stream of pages. The Page Display mode matters when you go to select text, and knowing how it works can save you some time.

  1. Place the viewer in Single Page mode.
  2. Control-A (or Command-A on the Mac)
  3. Control-C to copy (or Command-C on the Mac)

Adobe Reader: Pass

Apple Preview: Pass

Foxit Reader:   ~ (Selects all text in the document)

gDoc Fusion:  ~ (Selects all text in the document)

Google Viewer:  ~ (No way to select all text on the page except via a mouse-swipe)

Nitro PDF Reader:  Pass

Nuance PDF Reader:  Pass

PDF X-Change Viewer:  ~ (Selects all text in the document)

Screen-shot of the page display menuTo select all the text in the PDF

  1. Place the viewer in any mode other than Single Page.
  2. Control-A (or Command-A on the Mac)
  3. Control-C to copy (or Command-C on the Mac)

Adobe Reader: Pass

Apple Preview: Pass

Foxit Reader:  Pass

gDoc Fusion:  Pass

Google Viewer:  Fail (allows text-selection only from currently-visible content)

Nitro PDF Reader:  Fail (Selects content from only one page at a time)

Nuance PDF Reader:  Pass

PDF X-Change Viewer:  Pass

To select text that spans two or more pages

  1. Place the viewer in Two-Up mode.
  2. Place your mouse (or cursor insertion point) at the end (or beginning) of the text you want to copy.
  3. Swipe the mouse (or use the arrow-keys) to select the text in your document. The highlight that shows your selection progress will follow across the page boundary.
  4. Control-C to copy (or Command-C on the Mac)

Adobe Reader: Pass

Apple Preview: Pass

Foxit Reader:  Fail (cannot select text across pages)

gDoc Fusion:  Pass (has no Two-Up mode, but works in Continuous Mode)

Google Viewer: Pass

Nitro PDF Reader:  Fail (Selects content from only one page at a time)

Nuance PDF Reader:  Pass

PDF X-Change Viewer:  Pass

For this review we tested Adobe’s Reader, Apple’s Preview, Foxit’s Reader, Global Graphic’s gDoc Fusion, Google’s Viewer,  Nitro’s Reader, Nuance’s Reader and Tracker’s PDF X-Change Viewer.  For more comparisons of PDF viewing software, see 5 Readers Compared.

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