Extract and replace test in PDF
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Hi all,
I have a pdf generated in appl Pages. The pdf has several data tables / text boxes per page.
Wondering if the following is possible:
Detect all text content on page, whether in tables or text boxes, etc.
Extract text and replace w/ other text, thus generating the same doc w/ entirely new text.
I've looked at some of the OCR and text extraction samples/docs. Extracting the data seems pretty strait forwards. But can I replace it? The use case is translating the doc to another language.
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Adobe doesn't have a Document Services API to do this. That said, it's not really something you'll want to do. Text in a PDF is generally laid down with precise coordinates and isn't able to be replaced without causing overlaps.
If you want to create new PDF files with different text, I suggest looking at the Document Generation API which will allow you to start with a Word template plus some JSON and output a PDF where the JSON is merged into tagged "fields" in the document.
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That makes sense. Looks like using a template is the way to go. We don't
use Word though, and also manually tagging our complex documents would be
really time consuming.
I wonder if something like this would work:
> extract text using the extract API, thus getting content and coordinates
> populate a new blank PDF with the data, using the coordinate info to
insert text in blank document
( I would use another PDF js library for this part, if needed)
I downloaded the sample json output from the Extract API, and see a bunch
of coordinate data.
Could I use that to position text in a new document?
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Do you control the authoring process of these documents before they get converted to PDF or is this situation where you need to take what you are given?
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Yes, I create them in Apple Pages.
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So you have the source files? Why do you need the Extract service then? I'm missing something.
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The pdf's change depending on our clients' needs — we use tables & formulas to show/hide different options, and we are always making customiztion to them on the fly - adding notes, etc.. And they change over time. I want to completely automate translating new features in the file.
The end goal is to translate the pdf's. The translation part I have covered (google translate api).

