This is a problem with the Text layout algorithm inside TextOutputDev: Running pdftotext gives the following ordering of paragraphs (the ellipsis are mine):
1. Apart from the emphasis ... 2. about this attitude ... 3. Integrative contractors Our research has ... 4. Integrative clients Integrative attitudes ... 5. Integrative contractors’ engineers Integrative ... 6. Distributive attitudes ... 7. Economically ... 8. An integrative attitude to the occupational order? An integrative ... while it should be 1,3,5,2,4,6,7,8. The fact that in evince we can't select just one column is a consequence of this misorder in the paragraphs. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to poppler in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/594205 Title: Evince cannot select one column in a two column PDF Status in Poppler: Confirmed Status in poppler package in Ubuntu: Triaged Bug description: 1) lsb_release -rd Description: Ubuntu Vivid Vervet (development branch) Release: 15.04 2) apt-cache policy libpoppler[0-9] libpoppler47: Installed: 0.28.1-1ubuntu1 Candidate: 0.28.1-1ubuntu1 Version table: *** 0.28.1-1ubuntu1 0 500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid/main amd64 Packages 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status apt-cache policy evince evince: Installed: 3.14.1-0ubuntu1 Candidate: 3.14.1-0ubuntu1 Version table: *** 3.14.1-0ubuntu1 0 500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid/main amd64 Packages 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status 3) What is expected to happen via https://launchpadlibrarian.net/53980611/Example.pdf is one is able to highlight one column at a time, just like in Adobe Reader. 4) What happens instead is it highlights both columns at a time. WORKAROUND: Open with Chromium's built-in PDF reader: apt-cache policy chromium-browser chromium-browser: Installed: 39.0.2171.65-0ubuntu0.14.04.1.1064 Candidate: 39.0.2171.65-0ubuntu0.14.04.1.1064 Version table: *** 39.0.2171.65-0ubuntu0.14.04.1.1064 0 500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/universe amd64 Packages 500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-security/universe amd64 Packages 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status 34.0.1847.116-0ubuntu2 0 500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/universe amd64 Packages To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/poppler/+bug/594205/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : desktop-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp