Pdf loses italics or bold during conversion..

StringJam · 04-08-2011, 09:32 AM

Hello Everyone,

I have a problem with one of my pdf document I have tried to convert to .doc and .epub formats. During conversion it looses italics, bolds and the letters of "Ő" and "Ű" has changed to something else.

I have spend hours and hours searching Google to find some solution, but no luck yet. This is a 155 page document and if I change the characters manually, that would take forever.

Any help would be much appreciated..

Jellby · 04-08-2011, 12:20 PM

PDF is often a dead-end for conversion: even if it looks fine, trying to convert it to something else is likely to give you a headache. This is so because the PDF format is almost only an "image" of the page, it has no knowledge of words, letters, lines, paragraphs... it's only a pretty drawing of the page, and converting this to text is not easy.

You could try with some OCR program like FineReader or OmniPage, which are designed for that exactly: reading the text out of an image.

Faster · 04-08-2011, 12:52 PM

In Adobe Reader did you use 'Edit > Copy File to Clipboard', as this should preserve most of the formatting. Clearly, 'File > Save as Text' doesn't.
Concerning the accented characters, in Word click on the AA icon on the left of the Formatting toolbar to open the format and style panel.
Select what should be an accented character. In the Style panel scroll until you find the style which has a box round it indicating the style of the selection. Take notice of the font. Do you have this font installed? To change the font to one you do have which caters for accented characters - move your cursor to the right of the relevant style (in the style panel) an arrow for a drop down menu appears. Select Modify. Change the font.

DSpider · 04-09-2011, 05:10 PM

Jellby, actually it depends. Though most PDFs are just a collection of objects that have a fixed position on the page, if the PDF was saved as a tagged PDF, then it can reflow. And it would've definitely taken care of bold and italics problem.

Also, 155 pages is a breeze, trust me. I had to work with 400+ pages, and it took me 3 days to properly format it. So put on some good music during it and you'll survive.

Have you tried selecting the text and copy-pasting it into Word ? I found that it keeps formatting even from web pages.

StringJam · 04-09-2011, 07:52 PM

Thank you guys for all your help. I have solved the issue by taking Jellbys advice and installed FineReader, which took care of my problem within 5 minutes.
What a piece of software. I've been using it massively ever since I've installed it, for PDF editing and more. Recommend to anyone who has any kind of font character or font problems...

04-08-2011, 09:32 AM	#1
StringJam Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: London, UK Device: iPhone 4 (Stanza)	Pdf loses italics or bold during conversion.. Hello Everyone, I have a problem with one of my pdf document I have tried to convert to .doc and .epub formats. During conversion it looses italics, bolds and the letters of "Ő" and "Ű" has changed to something else. I have spend hours and hours searching Google to find some solution, but no luck yet. This is a 155 page document and if I change the characters manually, that would take forever. Any help would be much appreciated..

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04-08-2011, 12:20 PM	#2
Jellby frumious Bandersnatch Posts: 7,515 Karma: 18512745 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Spaniard in Sweden Device: Cybook Orizon, Kobo Aura	PDF is often a dead-end for conversion: even if it looks fine, trying to convert it to something else is likely to give you a headache. This is so because the PDF format is almost only an "image" of the page, it has no knowledge of words, letters, lines, paragraphs... it's only a pretty drawing of the page, and converting this to text is not easy. You could try with some OCR program like FineReader or OmniPage, which are designed for that exactly: reading the text out of an image.

04-08-2011, 12:52 PM	#3
Faster Connoisseur Posts: 61 Karma: 12096 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Tasmania Device: Sony PRS 650	In Adobe Reader did you use 'Edit > Copy File to Clipboard', as this should preserve most of the formatting. Clearly, 'File > Save as Text' doesn't. Concerning the accented characters, in Word click on the AA icon on the left of the Formatting toolbar to open the format and style panel. Select what should be an accented character. In the Style panel scroll until you find the style which has a box round it indicating the style of the selection. Take notice of the font. Do you have this font installed? To change the font to one you do have which caters for accented characters - move your cursor to the right of the relevant style (in the style panel) an arrow for a drop down menu appears. Select Modify. Change the font.

04-09-2011, 05:10 PM	#4
DSpider Evangelist Posts: 450 Karma: 343115 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Romania Device: PW2 2014	Jellby, actually it depends. Though most PDFs are just a collection of objects that have a fixed position on the page, if the PDF was saved as a tagged PDF, then it can reflow. And it would've definitely taken care of bold and italics problem. Also, 155 pages is a breeze, trust me. I had to work with 400+ pages, and it took me 3 days to properly format it. So put on some good music during it and you'll survive. Have you tried selecting the text and copy-pasting it into Word ? I found that it keeps formatting even from web pages.

04-09-2011, 07:52 PM	#5
StringJam Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: London, UK Device: iPhone 4 (Stanza)	Thank you guys for all your help. I have solved the issue by taking Jellbys advice and installed FineReader, which took care of my problem within 5 minutes. What a piece of software. I've been using it massively ever since I've installed it, for PDF editing and more. Recommend to anyone who has any kind of font character or font problems...

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