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Session 203: Processing PDF Files. Gaeir Dietrich Director High Tech Center Training Unit www.htctu.net. Overview. Explanation of PDF Programs that work with PDF files Adobe Reader Acrobat Pro Processing with Acrobat Pro Processing with OCR Programs Clean-up in Word. PDF.
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Session 203:Processing PDF Files Gaeir Dietrich Director High Tech Center Training Unit www.htctu.net
Overview • Explanation of PDF • Programs that work with PDF files • Adobe Reader • Acrobat Pro • Processing with Acrobat Pro • Processing with OCR Programs • Clean-up in Word
PDF • Great starting point • Contains all text and graphics • Easy to generate Word files once you learn how • Reduces retyping • Excellent format for creating large print
What is a PDF? Portable document format (PDF) Reads the same on any computer Looks like the book Contains all the text Easy for publishers
Types of PDF Documents Text-based PDF Searchable Graphical PDF Picture of text (i.e., a graphic) Use text-selection (I-beam) toolto tell the difference Text can be selected; graphics cannot
PDFs and Publishers Easy for publishers Even small publishers can create a PDF Most accurate format Looks like the book Includes page numbers and all text Will be complete BUT watch out for teacher’s editions
Security Issues PDF files can be locked in various ways Some files can be read but no text extracted If you receive a locked PDF, go back to the publisher
Working with PDF Files • Native utilities from Adobe • Adobe Reader • Acrobat Pro • Optical character recognition (OCR) • Free extraction tool: Balabolka
Which PDF Software? Adobe Reader Free Open, view, and read (including TTS) www.adobe.com/products/reader/ Acrobat Pro Discounted educational pricing Crop pages, delete/combine pages, renumber pages, extract text Highly recommended for alternate format producers
Reading Features in Adobe Reader Access text-based PDFs within Reader Reads aloud But does not highlight or track Enlarges text Nice reflow feature Changes text/background colors Text highlighting, sticky notes, and comments
Production Features in Reader • Really designed for reading, not reformatting • Export PDF • Subscription service (about $20/year) • Upload PDF file, service auto-converts to Word, download
Process with Acrobat Pro Cropping Enlargement for printing Tiling Extracting/deleting pages Combining/inserting pages Text extraction Works best with text-based PDF
Customize Quick Tools • Click on the “gear” • View > Show/hide > Toolbar Items > Quick Tools
Please Note • To enable single-key shortcuts • Open Preferences dialog box Ctrl + K • Under General > select Use Single-Key Accelerators To Access Tools (first checkbox under Basic Tools)
Cropping • Tools > Pages > Crop • Shortcut: C • (Please note: This shortcut brings up the mouse-driven cropping tool—must double click to open the dialog box!)
Enlarging • Choose paper size/printer • File > Print > Size…to Fit • Shortcut: Ctrl + P (tab through) • Tip: Crop document before enlarging
Tiling • Choose paper size/printer • File > Print > Poster > Tile Scale and Overlap • Shortcut: Ctrl + P (tab through) • Tip: Crop document before tiling
Extracting Pages • Tools > Pages > Extract • Delete Shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + D • Extract Pages Shortcut: Alt V + T + P (opens Pages pane; F6 focuses in pane and can arrow down)
Tips for Extracting Chapters • Crop on complete file before extracting • Work on a copy!!!!! • Extract from end toward front! • Use table of contents to help • Place focus on first page of chapter to extract (beginning with last)
Combining • File > Pages > Insert • OR • Create > Combine files
Auto Extracting Text • File > Save As > MS Word • Retains styles and paragraphs • File > Save As > More options… • Text (Accessible) • Lose styles, places hard returns at end of line • Text (Plain) • Lose styles, keeps paragraphs • Shortcut: Alt F + A
More Control over Text • For graphical PDFs • Or • To maintain more control over extracting text from text-based PDFs • Use an OCR program!
Better Text Extraction Use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) program OCR programs analyze text and structure Acrobat Pro has built-in OCR, but other programs provide more control
OCR Programs • ABBYY FineReader Pro • Easier to learn • Somewhat better with structure • About $75 • Nuance OmniPage • A bit more accessible • A bit better with STEM materials • About $100
Kurzweil-users Note • If students are using Kurzweil, then use Kurzweil for the OCR • Do not OCR and then load into Kurzweil unless you do not care about the page structure • Use KESI virtual printer • Print from Acrobat or Adobe Reader • Creates KESI files • Will not work with locked files
OCR Programs Treat all graphics files the same PDFs, TIFFs, JPEGs Load image file Create templates Zone (analyze structure) Run OCR
OCR Process Details • Crop before loading into OCR program • Turn on multiple languages as needed • If doing math, turn on Greek • Only turn on the languages you need • Edit in the OCR program • Some OCR programs have font matching features • Save to Word
Once in Word • Learn to use “show hidden” • Ctrl + Shift + 8 • Beware of the optional hyphen • Search and replace to delete • Search for ^- replace with nothing • Run spell check • Use styles to structure files for braille program
More information • Gaeir (rhymes with “fire”) Dietrich • gdietrich@htctu.net • 408-996-6047 • www.htctu.net