PDF --> Word Document ??

[mac_shinobi]

Hi All

 

Appologies if this is in the wrong section ( @ Mods, you are more then welcome to move / rename if you need / want to... )

 

Onto the question :

 

We don't have the original source documents ie word documents to be able to edit the original documents, we have a number of seperate PDF documents that we need to be able to edit, I have tried open office with the relevant extension but it seems a bit clunky, I was wondering is there a way to convert a pdf file into a word document using a free piece of software and was after some suggestions of what software or how I would go about this.

 

I want to keep the margins, formatting, images, links etc etc

 

I see there is pdf escape but am not sure of the confidentiality of the documents so would prefer software over doing this online.

 

I am also aware of pdf writers ( cute pdf, primo pdf, nitro pdf etc etc ) but we need to do this for free as all of these are paid for items - Obviously the aformentioned bits of software convert other doc formats into pdf, where as I am trying to go from PDF to word doc

 

Thanks

[jamesreedersmith]

Let me google that for you

[mac_shinobi]

That's what I have been doing for the two hours

 

Found this site :

 

How to Edit PDF Files - Free Tools for Manipulating PDF Documents

 

Have tested all the methods, open office is the best but still clunky as other bits of software do not keep margins or are shifting the contents of the document around.

[timzim]

I got fed up of all the rubbish pdf free software years ago and shelled out cash for 1 copy of Acrobat Pro - money well spent and I'm still using it, even though it's an old version. Plus edu licences are so cheap, compared to business ones. You probably don't want to hear this though...

[mac_shinobi]

I got fed up of all the rubbish pdf free software years ago and shelled out cash for 1 copy of Acrobat Pro - money well spent and I'm still using it, even though it's an old version. Plus edu licences are so cheap, compared to business ones. You probably don't want to hear this though...

 

What version of pro is it and can you give me a link or quick brief run down of how you would edit a pdf using the pro version ?

 

Thanks

Edited March 9, 2011 by mac_shinobi

[timzim]

I bought version 7. To convert a pdf to Word you open the pdf then choose 'Save As' Microsoft Word doc (or whatever you want to save it as, RTF, jpg, txt, html. Simlarly creating pdfs is a doddle, either from Acrobat or direct from MS Office (as it installs an extra option). You can also do OCR on pdfs, although that can be a bit hit or miss.

[bart21]

I know you say you dont want to do it online but after numerous testing i now use this site.

 

PDF to Word Online - Convert PDF to Word for Free

 

It seems to be the one that holds the layout the best.

 

nick

[somabc]

Acrobat X for Education « UK and Ireland Channel News

[Arthur]

I've had good results in the past with the following three apps...

 

Adobe Acrobat: http://www.adobe.com/go/tryacrobatpro/

Solid PDF to Word: http://www.macworld.com/article/150906/2010/04/pdf_conversion.html

Abbyy FineReader: http://finereader.abbyy.com/

 

By the way, to just extract the text without any of the formatting, you can use Automator... http://www.macworld.com/article/142601/2009/09/makeaservice.html

[tumbleweed]

freeocr.net has worked well for me in the past.

[RabbieBurns]

if you just want to modify some of the text, you can do that directly in acrobat pro without even having to mess about converting it to word.