Disfunctional Hightlights on Kindle 3

Starko · 11-06-2010, 09:43 AM

Hi All,

Since yesterday i am a happy owner of Kindle 3. Immediately i'm confronted by the following problem. When i want to highlight a line in a PDF file, nothing happens. At least nothing useful - the highlighted text unhighights itself as soon as click the 5-way the second time. When i press [Menu]->[View My Notes & Marks] it takes about 3 minutes to show the first page of my highlights and notes list. But all the highlights are empty - there are no texts. all i see is "Page 32 - Highlight", "Page 33 - Note" etc. going to the second page seems to take twice as long but i have not timed it.

Anyone has any ideas on what is wrong and what to do about it?

PS. Kindle 3 WiFi is jailbreaked, SS hack, font hack. FW3.0.3.
PDF document is ~300 pages and ~60MB in size. It used to be a 5MB book but i used Nitro PDF to crop the pages (get rid of huge white margines). For some reason the size increased tenfold...

cjottawa · 11-06-2010, 10:42 AM

I haven't had any luck attempting to highlight text in a PDF, on the K3.

mldavis2 · 11-06-2010, 11:38 AM

A PDF book is essentially a captured image of a page, not a string of text, therefore, to be able to highlight text from a PDF scan, you must convert it to some suitable text format in which the individual letters are actually letters and not the equivalent of a photographic image.

aroland · 11-06-2010, 11:58 AM

In order to highlight, the PDF needs to be a "Searchable PDF," that is, a pdf with the text embedded alongside the image. The PDF you are trying to highlight is essentially just an image so the kindle can't really mark what you are highlighting.
If you try it with a searchable PDF it will work fine.

curstpriest · 11-06-2010, 12:06 PM

Acrobat Pro -> Document Menu -> Recognize Text Using OCR

or use some other program.

cjottawa · 11-09-2010, 06:40 AM

Oh wait... I forgot. I HAVE been able to highlight SOME PDF files such as ones I've created and sent to the Kindle.

I haven't been able to highlight certain PDF ebooks and I'm absolutely certain they ARE "text" type PDFs and not "scanned images." (I make that distinction daily with coworkers)

Perhaps some ebook PDFs are locked down.

Starko · 11-10-2010, 03:10 AM

@mldavis2 I guess it really depends on a "market/sphere of interest" you operate in - in my "market" there are hardly any PDF files that are just images of pages. In any case i am talking about Text based PDFs that might or might not contain images.

I have a lot of PDF files i would like to read on Kindle and until i have found a way to highlight on Kindle 3 i will have to scan them first. I have scanned one PDF with an OCR program into an RTF file. Then i converted that file into a MOBI file with Calibre. Unfortunately all images in that book are "lost in translation" (from RTF to MOBI). Anyone has suggestion as to what kind of files i should make in order to be able to highlight AND see images?

Starko · 11-10-2010, 01:41 PM

Update! I tried many PDFs and K3 highlights them just fine as long as they are
- text based
and
- unprotected

The only reason for my initial frustration is probably related to the fact that the PDF file where i could not highlight was PROTECTED. I am not sure whether PROTECTED is the right word as i am using Dutch version of Adobe Reader. In my case i see (BEVEILIGD) displayed in brackets right after the file name in the titlebar of the Adobe Reader window.
I am not sure what that means, because i can select any part of the original document in the Adobe Reader and copy and paste it.

11-06-2010, 09:43 AM	#1
Starko Zealot Posts: 123 Karma: 998177 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: Kindle 3	Disfunctional Hightlights on Kindle 3 Hi All, Since yesterday i am a happy owner of Kindle 3. Immediately i'm confronted by the following problem. When i want to highlight a line in a PDF file, nothing happens. At least nothing useful - the highlighted text unhighights itself as soon as click the 5-way the second time. When i press [Menu]->[View My Notes & Marks] it takes about 3 minutes to show the first page of my highlights and notes list. But all the highlights are empty - there are no texts. all i see is "Page 32 - Highlight", "Page 33 - Note" etc. going to the second page seems to take twice as long but i have not timed it. Anyone has any ideas on what is wrong and what to do about it? PS. Kindle 3 WiFi is jailbreaked, SS hack, font hack. FW3.0.3. PDF document is ~300 pages and ~60MB in size. It used to be a 5MB book but i used Nitro PDF to crop the pages (get rid of huge white margines). For some reason the size increased tenfold...

11-10-2010, 03:10 AM	#7
Starko Zealot Posts: 123 Karma: 998177 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: Kindle 3	@mldavis2 I guess it really depends on a "market/sphere of interest" you operate in - in my "market" there are hardly any PDF files that are just images of pages. In any case i am talking about Text based PDFs that might or might not contain images. I have a lot of PDF files i would like to read on Kindle and until i have found a way to highlight on Kindle 3 i will have to scan them first. I have scanned one PDF with an OCR program into an RTF file. Then i converted that file into a MOBI file with Calibre. Unfortunately all images in that book are "lost in translation" (from RTF to MOBI). Anyone has suggestion as to what kind of files i should make in order to be able to highlight AND see images? Last edited by Starko; 11-10-2010 at 05:23 AM.

11-10-2010, 01:41 PM	#8
Starko Zealot Posts: 123 Karma: 998177 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: Kindle 3	Update! I tried many PDFs and K3 highlights them just fine as long as they are - text based and - unprotected The only reason for my initial frustration is probably related to the fact that the PDF file where i could not highlight was PROTECTED. I am not sure whether PROTECTED is the right word as i am using Dutch version of Adobe Reader. In my case i see (BEVEILIGD) displayed in brackets right after the file name in the titlebar of the Adobe Reader window. I am not sure what that means, because i can select any part of the original document in the Adobe Reader and copy and paste it. Last edited by Starko; 11-10-2010 at 01:57 PM.

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11-06-2010, 10:42 AM	#2
cjottawa Tempus fugit. Posts: 91 Karma: 911 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Kindle Keyboard	I haven't had any luck attempting to highlight text in a PDF, on the K3.

11-06-2010, 11:38 AM	#3
mldavis2 Coffee Nut Posts: 410 Karma: 298350 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Missouri Device: Kindle 3; K4PC; Calibre	A PDF book is essentially a captured image of a page, not a string of text, therefore, to be able to highlight text from a PDF scan, you must convert it to some suitable text format in which the individual letters are actually letters and not the equivalent of a photographic image.

11-06-2010, 11:58 AM	#4
aroland Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2010 Device: Kindle 3	In order to highlight, the PDF needs to be a "Searchable PDF," that is, a pdf with the text embedded alongside the image. The PDF you are trying to highlight is essentially just an image so the kindle can't really mark what you are highlighting. If you try it with a searchable PDF it will work fine.

11-06-2010, 12:06 PM	#5
curstpriest Confused Posts: 402 Karma: 5538 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Bay Area Device: Kindle DXG	Acrobat Pro -> Document Menu -> Recognize Text Using OCR or use some other program.

11-09-2010, 06:40 AM	#6
cjottawa Tempus fugit. Posts: 91 Karma: 911 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Kindle Keyboard	Oh wait... I forgot. I HAVE been able to highlight SOME PDF files such as ones I've created and sent to the Kindle. I haven't been able to highlight certain PDF ebooks and I'm absolutely certain they ARE "text" type PDFs and not "scanned images." (I make that distinction daily with coworkers) Perhaps some ebook PDFs are locked down.

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