Cannot properly copy text from pdf

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
February 13, 2022
2 replies
527 views

I have generated a pdf using the htmlto pdf script.

Now when I want to copy part of the text by dragging my mouse pover it, Acrobat selects only parts of the text and even text where my mouse has not yet been (see image below)

How can I prevent this or how can I correct this? Thanks

Roger

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Test Screen Name

Legend

Please share the PDF you are trying out. There are several possibilities to account for.

R

rveldenAuthor

Participating Frequently

An excerpt of the file is attached.

Pagina's_van_ePART-145-1.pdf

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Test Screen Name

Legend

Thanks for the file. I can report that the PDF creation tool you use sets the text in a very strange order. And the select tool chooses text in the order it is set. See this image for details

for example after

"This Regulation establishes common technical requirements and administrative procedures to ensure:"

it jumps down to set

"Article 2 Definitions
Last updated: 16-09-2015; Ref: (EU) 2015/1536
Within the scope of Regulation (EC) NO 216/2008, the following definitions shall apply:"

then goes back, ignoring the (a) at the start, to

"the continuing airworthiness of aircraft, including any component for installation (a) thereto, which are:"

and then sets the

"(a)" from the start.

What your PDF creation tool has done is not wrong; it will display correctly. But it also is likely to cause weird and wonderful selection issues with different tools. Of course you can report to Adobe, but there is little realistic prospect that they will change this after 25 years, and also millions of people would still use the old software.

Adobe can do a better job sometimes, but this PDF states it is tagged, even though it is not tagged properly, so this probably makes it fail. Note that posting a wrongly tagged PDF may be illegal for many organisations in many countries.