Convert PDF to Word or HTML
by
Steve Giesel
Did you know it's possible to convert your PDF
documents back into a Word document? Or even into HTML? In the past A
number of you have asked me if this was possible and unknowingly—I
responded in the negative. Happily I can now correct my error and
announce to you that it is indeed possible to convert your PDF documents
back into a number of text formats such as .txt (text), html, or even in
Word format. Indeed these tools have been available before now but I
don't always pick up on such things right away, there's just too much
going on in the Web to keep up with everything. That's why ETCS is
always interested in hearing from you if you've found something new or
unique that might help other Extension Associates do a better job, "on
the job."
Now, you should know that a reverse conversion back
into Word is not a one-step process, but it's pretty close.
Additionally the Acrobat Professional and Standard versions of the full
program will convert PDF's directly into additional formats such as
.rtf (Rich Text), .html, and .xml in addition to text
format.
OPTION #1:
Convert directly from within the Adobe Reader
software itself. The Reader is included with your current computer set
up, and an update is easily available from the Adobe Web site here,
http://get.adobe.com/reader/.
- Open your file with Adobe Reader 8 or later.
- Once the PDF
file is open—from the File menu choose, "Save as Text…"
- A "Save As"
dialog opens allowing you to choose where to save the file in .txt
format.
- Open the
.txt document you just created and Copy/Paste this text into a new Word
document and save it.
- Reapply
formatting as needed.
You now have a Word version of your PDF document.
OPTION #2:
You may use the conversion tools available at
Adobe's Web site. From there you can convert a PDF document into text
or HTML, and there are two ways Adobe will handle this for you.
Method A:
You can send the PDF file
as an email attachment for conversion; this is handy if the file is on
your computer or one of your local network connections. Click the
pdf2txt@adobe.com or
pdf2html@adobe.com link to attach your file for conversion.
Adobe will return the converted file for you as an attachment to your
email inbox. At present I've been able to get only the pdf2html,
address to work but it seems effective and returned the converted file
within ˝ an hour or so.
Method B:
You can use the tool on
the Web page itself, just follow the directions below.
- Point your Web browser to;
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/access_onlinetools.html
- In the field provided enter the URL of the PDF you wish to
convert (it must be on a publicly available Web page somewhere).
- Select the format you want, HTML or TXT.
- Optionally you can enter info about why you aren't using the
converter in Adobe Reader.
- Select the platform you will view the page on, enter Comments if
you wish.
- Click "Convert."
- Depending on their server load the converted document will be
returned shortly in a new window.
- Create a new Word version by Copy/Pasting the text from the
returned document.
If you need an html file from your PDF this seems
to be the best method
Admittedly these tactics are a round-about way to
get a Word document from your PDF file, but it works. You will want to
read the FAQ's at,
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/access_tools_faq.htmll because
there are some limitations to the process. This converter is designed
to make a document readable via a screen reader so most
formatting—except paragraphing—including images are stripped from the
converted documents.
And finally if you like, it should be easy to find
inexpensive software just by Googling PDF to DOC.
Back
Last Revised:
03/04/09
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