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peterschneider
Known Participant
Dec 24, 2022 12:45 PM UTC
Question

Copying text straight from a pdf results in false information

I have a pdf file in arabic language and when I copy text or numbers and paste it in any application the result is different. For example I copied the number 250000 but when pasting it I get this "088888" . 

Now if I edit the pdf file and copy the same number I get the right results. 

I don't understand the logic behind that. This happens to a lot of my files and it is very time consuming to copy text and number this way. 

Hope someone can figure out the reason behind that and a possible solution. 

I uploaded a part of the file for testing. 

 

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7 replies

Zaid Al Hilali
Community Expert
Zaid Al HilaliCommunity Expert
Community Expert
Dec 30, 2022 8:01 AM UTC

This is a bug which has been reported to Adobe years ago. The more suitable alternative for Windows users in my opinion is to open the PDF straight in Word application ie. backwards converting the PDF to MS. Word format as such Word will give you a higher success than Acrobat.

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try67
Community Expert
try67Community Expert
Community Expert
Dec 24, 2022 4:05 PM UTC

This is usually caused by an incorrect font encoding. I see the file was created from Word, probably using the application's internal Save as PDF command. If you have access to the original file try converting it using the Adobe PDFMaker plugin, instead (via the Acrobat ribbon).

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    peterschneiderAuthor
    Known Participant
    Dec 24, 2022 5:37 PM UTC

    I can request the file since my colleague wrote it. But this copy/paste problem occured so many times and I want to find a solution for that. I download a lot of reports from the internet that have the same issue. A side note: I tried converting it to docx using acrobat, opening it with office 2019, used foxit, used iLovePdf. None of them worked. 

    I also don't understand why I can copy the text without any problem if I copy the text while in editing mode. What is the difference in fonts between normal view mode and editing mode? 

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    try67
    Community Expert
    try67Community Expert
    Community Expert
    Dec 25, 2022 10:39 PM UTC

    It should be the same, but if the encoding is incorrect then such strange things might happen...

    Sorry, I don't have a better answer for you. It's the first time I see something like this happening.

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    Abambo
    Community Expert
    AbamboCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    Dec 24, 2022 2:49 PM UTC

    I only can confirm this. Even exporting as a Word document gives the error.

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    ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer
    peterschneiderAuthor
    Known Participant
    Dec 24, 2022 12:49 PM UTC

    Forgot to mention that I use adobe acrobat pro version 2022.003.20282 64 bit.  Windows 10 latest updates. 

     

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