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Participating Frequently
June 9, 2023
Question

Sometimes text selection not possible, not accurate, not usable. Why ? How to solve ?

  • June 9, 2023
  • 3 replies
  • 720 views

Hello . . .

 

Sometimes I have to work on PDF files.


With the text in some files I have no problems: I can select it and modify it to my liking.
In other files instead the modification is impossible: the selection extends for most of the page, sometimes in the shape of a cut egg, sometimes in the shape of a rectangle.

 

Acrobat, once, when opening an image, it automatically started the conversion and after the conversion, the text that was previously part of an image, became immediately and totally editable. Now no longer. Why ?

If I manually start the text recognition from "Scan and OCR", nothing changes!

 

I found a solution: I export as an image, and - in the many ways offered by Acrobat - I open the image, or import it, or create it from a file, but the result is not flawless, it is not presentable, it looks like an acquisition from low resolution scanners, especially if compared to a successful acquisition.

 

What's the explanation? Is there a more professional solution?

 

Greetings.

 

J.K.

This topic has been closed for replies.

3 replies

try67
Community Expert
Community Expert
June 12, 2023

The problem is most likely with how the original file was created. Unless you share a sample file that's about all I can say on the matter.

Exporting to images and then re-creating the file is a good solution, but make sure you use a lossless format (like PNG) and set the export settings (via Preferences - Export from PDF) to the highest resolution possible to get decent results.

Participating Frequently
June 13, 2023

Thank you for your answer.

 

I didn't agree that I wrote in the Reader forum... I was wrong, I apologize.

 

Regarding the problem, I recently discovered that by saving in png format, you can save with a high resolution that at least offers a professionally usable output. In any case, thanks for the tip.

 

However it is a convoluted solution. And the flaw I've found has been happening since the office phased out Acrobat XI Pro in favor of Acrobat DC. Or, Acrobat documents may have since been produced with alternative software.

 

I will restart with the correct forum. Thanks for the replies.

 

Greetings.

Bernd Alheit
Community Expert
Community Expert
June 11, 2023

Try the forum for Adobe Acrobat. Reader can't change the documents.

Participating Frequently
June 10, 2023

Up please . . .

Participating Frequently
June 11, 2023

Up please . . .