Skip to main content
A
Anonymous
October 6, 2011
Question

Acrobat: summarize highlighted text only in a new document?

  • October 6, 2011
  • 3 replies
  • 36607 views

Hi everyone,

I have marked some passages with the "highlight text"-tool in a big pdf file and want to extract only the marked text in a new file. Is this possible?

So far I could only print a new file with information ABOUT the highlighted text, but not the highlighted text itself.

This means I get a file telling me only who highlighted the text and when he did that.

I'm using Adobe Acrobat X, but if you know another program that is able to do this please tell me!

Thanks for your help!

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    3 replies

    A
    Anonymous
    October 7, 2011

    Thanks for your answers!

    @ try67: I could not find this option, would you please specify the place where to find it in detail?

    @ Sandeep V.:

    I still had to fix some issues where Word and Acrobat did not work as they should(adding Tags, updating Acrobat to 10.1 to have the Acrobat symbol in Word etc.), but now I can follow your instruction very well. For PDF-files I created with PDFMaker it is actually working!

    Unfortunately the PDF-files I highlighted are not made with PDFMaker which results in a word crash after selecting custom filters (point 7 to point 8). Is it possible to transfer the pdf easily to the requested format or whatever it is? I could not find out.

    Additionaly is it possible to export the highlighted text just as it is without surroundings like the red box or dates?

    I'm looking for something like this:

    ------

    highlighted text 1

    ------

    second highlighted text

    ------

    third highlighted text

    Thanks again!

    Sandeep_V_
    Sandeep_V_
    Participating Frequently
    October 7, 2011

    Although i generally recommend people to user PDFMaker as it provides more features. But if you have already converted the files using PDF Printer, you can also creates tags. Try this:

    1). Open PDF in Acrobat.

    2). Click on Tools-> Accessibility.

    3). Add Tags to document.

    4). Save the document and then try the steps I mentioned above. This resolves the issue related to Tags.

    You can also do that in MS Word once the PDF is tagged.

    1). Open MS Word. Click on Acrobat Tab

    2). Click on Acrobat Comments->Import Comments from Acrobat.

    3). Now Follow step 6,7,8, and 9 and you are done.

    Once you get the comments exported to word you need to change the layout of those using features in word.

    Also, you can try this:

    In the comments pane->Under Comments List-> Click on the bubbles and select Hide All Comments. No Click on the same bubble and select Type->Highlight. This will show you only Highlight annotations.

    Now Click on Options(Box) and select create comment summary.

    Under Comment summary select third radio button-> Comments Only.

    For Include option -> Select Only the comments currentyly showing.

    Click Create Comments Summary

    This will generate the PDF file with only highlight annotations.

    Now you can easily export this to MS Word, Using SaveAs-> Microsoft Word-> Word Documents.

    (This might create a problem if the highlighted tag is on a Scan document that is OCRed/ not OCRed. That may slightly change the layout). Otherwise its okey.

    Does that resolve the issue??

    I am not sure if i followed the second issue of yours. Is update a problem or adding Acrobat tab in Word?

    ~SaVe

    A
    Anonymous
    October 8, 2011

    Thanks again for your help!

    But I'm afraid you missed my point. I already solved the issues with Tags and Acrobat tab in Word.

    My main problem is that I have PDF-files downloaded from scientific websites which are not made by PDFMaker or another Adobe program.

    So everytime I follow (any of) your instructions Word will crash just because the PDF is not created by PDFMaker.

    My question would be now if you know of any solution to transfer these PDF-files into something that won't cause Word to crash upon extracting the highlighted text to it.

    Thank you!

    Sandeep_V_
    Sandeep_V_
    Participating Frequently
    October 6, 2011

    Hi Udo,

    Try this:

    1). Create a new blank doc and save it.

    2). Open the PDF doc with annotations.

    3). Click on comments.

    4). Now click on Options- square box in the comment panel. (rightmost icon just above your comments)

    5). Select Export to Word

    6). Browse the new blank doc that you created in step one.

    7). Select Custom Filters.

    8). Under Of Types List box select the type that you want ot export. In you case - select Highlight.

    9). Done...

    You can adjust the margin draggin the ruler divider towards left if you want.... Isn't it fantastic..... Let me know if you want more help on this....

    ~SaVe

      try67
      try67
      Community Expert
      October 6, 2011

      Did you enabled the option in the Preferences to copy the highlighted text

      into the comment?

      Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
      Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices