PDF to text - Page 2

AnemicOak · 07-28-2010, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike_bike_kite

Luckily the same problem occurs with just about any PDF on the web so you could just download any PDF and then try converting that.

Depending on what the PDF was created from (Word Doc, LaTeX, InDesign, Quark, etc.) and what created it (Distiller, Cute, FoxIt, Primo, or the other bazillion PDF creators) the results can be quite different, from halfway decent to a complete mess.

frabjous · 07-28-2010, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike_bike_kite

I can't understand why there aren't simple post processors to process the text. Take the text output and join the lines together unless they end in a full stop, a question mark or a double quote.

Of course there are, using algorithms more sophisticated than this, too. I think most of the software mentioned in the thread does this already, to greater or lesser degrees of success. There are also dedicated tools like ebook-tidy, and so on.

Quote:

My aim was to finally generate HTML and then use the chapter titles to create a TOC. I got halfway there

but considering how clever tools like Calibre are, it surprised me that this wasn't done automatically.

Calibre provides a place to enter a regular expressions for deleting headers and footers IIRC. pdfreflow attempts to do this automatically; but this is a difficult thing to get right, and I think such software naturally tends to err towards not deleting something when in doubt as opposed to deleting it.

jblitereader · 07-30-2010, 02:44 AM

I just tried nuance pdf pro trial version. Damn, it sucks really bad for something that costs $100.

Greg Anos · 07-30-2010, 03:20 AM

I don't know of any way that doesn't involve some manual tweaking. I might suggest you get a hex editor with a global search/replace. That way. you can fix the break internally.

I use HEXEDIT 3.0. Hexedit works great, but really bogs down after around 2000 global changes per file. Sometimes I have to do a book in blocks... But if it's a consistent pattern, you can fix it easily with a hex editor.

(Example, I want to change a block of single quotes to double quotes.)

You use the hex editor to fix the output file from the PDF converter.

frabjous · 07-30-2010, 09:24 AM

Maybe I'm missing something, but if the output is plain text (or a plain text based format like HTML or RTF), why would you need a HEX editor? Wouldn't a good text editor be sufficient?

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07-30-2010, 02:44 AM	#18
jblitereader Addict Posts: 248 Karma: 1312 Join Date: Mar 2010 Device: jetbook lite	I just tried nuance pdf pro trial version. Damn, it sucks really bad for something that costs $100.

07-30-2010, 03:20 AM	#19
Greg Anos Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,520 Karma: 37057604 Join Date: Jan 2008 Device: Pocketbook	I don't know of any way that doesn't involve some manual tweaking. I might suggest you get a hex editor with a global search/replace. That way. you can fix the break internally. I use HEXEDIT 3.0. Hexedit works great, but really bogs down after around 2000 global changes per file. Sometimes I have to do a book in blocks... But if it's a consistent pattern, you can fix it easily with a hex editor. (Example, I want to change a block of single quotes to double quotes.) You use the hex editor to fix the output file from the PDF converter.

07-30-2010, 09:24 AM	#20
frabjous Wizard Posts: 1,213 Karma: 12890 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Amherst, Massachusetts, USA Device: Sony PRS-505	Maybe I'm missing something, but if the output is plain text (or a plain text based format like HTML or RTF), why would you need a HEX editor? Wouldn't a good text editor be sufficient?

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