Thanks, Esther. I'll check it out. Rafael ________________________________________ From: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com [macvisionaries@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Esther [mori...@mac.com] Sent: Sunday, July 31, 2011 1:54 PM To: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: PDF to text converterS, anyone?
Hi Rafael, This post that I sent just after you posted your question does not seem to have made it to the list, so I'll try reposting. A few months ago William Windels asked on list for a command line tool to do batch pdf to text conversions, and Tim Kilburn directed him to the pdftotext Shell tool found at: http://www.bluem.net/en/mac/others/ Then in May, a list member asked again for an application that would work like pdf2txt on windows, and I posted that you could just download the pdftotext Shell tool from the above URL, and put an AppleScript wrapper around the command to run it from the GUI instead of from the Terminal command line. (Actually, I mentioned putting it into an Automator workflow, but that was because I was thinking about a way to get it into the Finder contextual menu; it's not necessary and just an AppleScript wrapper will do). If you download the pdftotext Shell tool, it will get installed on your computer into: /usr/local/bin/pdftotext Just open your AppleScript Editor (use Command+Shift+U in Finder to go to your Utilities folder, press "a p" to go to the AppleScript Editor and use Command+Down Arrow or Command+O to launch it) and paste in the following code (staring below the line labeled "Cut Here", and ending with the line "end run"): ---Cut Here--- (* Use pdftotext to create a text version of the selected PDF file Created 17 May 2011 *) on run tell application "Finder" set chosenFile to the selection as alias end tell do shell script "/usr/local/bin/pdftotext " & quoted form of POSIX path of chosenFile end run You can use Command+K to compile it. And to test it you can highlight one or more PDF files in FInder, then Command+Tab back to the AppleScript Editor and press Command+R to run the AppleScript. For each <filename>.pdf file you highlighted, a corresponding <filename>.txt file should be created in the same folder. You can save the AppleScript file with a name of your choosing (e.g., pdf2txt) as either a script or an application. If you save it as an AppleScript and put in the "Library/Scripts" folder of your home directory, it will show up as one of the menu options in the AppleScripts menu on your status menu bar (navigated to with VO-M twice or Control+F8). And of course, you could also assign this a keyboard shortcut to the AppleScript. HTH. You can also read some more details about accessing the <http://www.bluem.net/en/mac/others/> web site for the pdftotext shell script in the earlier archived list post: • "Re: something like pdf2txt on the mac?" http://www.mail-archive.com/macvisionaries%40googlegroups.com/msg45375.html A second way to handle this is to use the Services menu option of "New TextEdit Window Containing Selection". Check the box for this option under System Preferences on the "Keyboard Shortcuts" tab of the "Keyboard "menu after selecting "Services" in the shortcuts category table. You can also assign it a custom shortcut if you like. Then, when you have a PDF open in Preview, do a Command+A to select all, and choose the "New TextEdit Window Containing Selection" option that will now appear in the "Services" submenu of the application on the menu bar, or apply your custom shortcut. A TextEdit window will open containing a text version of your selection. This method can also be used on text selected from any application. It's a great way to read inaccessible web pages by selecting their content and using the service menu option, because it strips off bad HTML coding that prevents VoiceOver from reading text content. When applied to selections in iWork's "Pages" documents, it will let VoiceOver read off embedded tables or lists. You can search the Mail Archive site for this list for some of the previous discussion using this option from earlier this year. This method is different from simply copying and pasting into a TextEdit window because of the Services processing, and it is also much lower overhead on the system. However, for what you want, I think my first outlined solution is better, and can also be applied to multiple file selections. Cheers, Esther On Jul 31, 2011, at 02:16, Rose Morales wrote: > I had the same question. Pdf to rtf service was the best I found. This app > lets you open PDF documents in text edit. You install it by copying the > .service file into a folder on your hard drive. The folder is specified in > the readme. Your document is still a PDF, so you'll have to copy and paste to > a new document and then save the new document in the format which you prefer. > Here's a download link for this app. > http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/17950/pdf2rtfservice > > Another option is to open preview, hit command-a, command-c, and paste your > text into text edit. This will work for most PDF's. > > Hth, > Rose > > On Jul 31, 2011, at 6:08 AM, Jürgen Fleger wrote: > >> Hi, >> >> Abbyy Finereader Express can do that for you. >> >> HTH >> Jürgen >> >> Am 31.07.2011 um 08:08 schrieb Karen Lewellen: >> >>> Hi Rafael, >>> While I cannot speak to an application, I can speak of a source that may >>> work for you. >>> this organization, >>> www.robobraille.org >>> will convert pdf files into any number of formats via e-mail. The site is >>> not as complete as to their services, they do more than they list. >>> for example if you email >>> conv...@robobraille.org >>> >>> with >>> text >>> in the subject line, >>> Attaching the file to the email, >>> you will get back a converted text document. >>> I tend to be a little selective about my text, so personally I have them >>> convert to rtf, run a utility here on shellworld that changes the rtf into >>> html, then run the html file through lynx for lovely text. >>> may be more steps than you desire though, especially if you do not have >>> access to the lynx text browser. >>> If you have questions, sing away, >>> Karen >>> >>> On Sun, 31 Jul 2011, Bejarano, Rafael P. wrote: >>> >>>> Hi all, >>>> >>>> I am in need of a program that converts pdf files to text files. Can >>>> anyone here recommend such an app? >>>> >>>> Cordially, >>>> Rafael Bejarano >>>> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. 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