Importing PDF Files into WordPerfect Office
Adobe Reader (the free viewer for PDF files) is installed on over half a billion computers worldwide, so it comes as no surprise that PDF has emerged as the standard format for exchanging information. From driver’s license applications, to medical forms, to the lost instruction manual for your DVD player – companies, organizations, and governmental agencies are increasingly embracing the Internet as a way of distributing information to the general public.
WordPerfect Office made history in January 2006 as the first office suite to let you import a PDF file, edit or reuse the text and graphics within, and then resave the file in WPD, DOC or PDF format. In previous versions, you could use WordPerfect (and Presentations) to create PDF files with the Publish to PDF feature. The PDF import feature in WordPerfect makes it easier than ever to repurpose content.
Think about it for a minute: you can open a PDF file and edit it, or reuse portions of it to create a new document. How cool is that? You can repurpose PDF material with the minimum amount of formatting adjustments. It opens up a world of possibilities.
But wait – isn’t this a bit like cracking a secret code? Aren’t PDF files supposed to be secure? Isn’t this the reason behind the proliferation of documents being sent via email, and posted online – because the originator was secure in the knowledge that the information could not be altered?
PDF Files are not “Locked”
Apparently, there is a common misconception about PDF files. Lots of people (myself included) believe that a PDF file is “locked” in the sense that you can’t make any changes, or reuse the text. Unfortunately, this is not the case, and hasn’t been for some time.
Savvy users figured out a long time ago that they could copy and paste information from a PDF into WordPerfect. The original could not be altered, but the information could be repurposed into new documents, which could then be published to PDF. This manual process is tedious and you frequently have problems preserving the text flow and importing the pictures and other graphics.
Furthermore, products from vendors like Nuance (formerly known as Scansoft) already import PDF files. However, their solution puts text into boxes, so the text doesn’t flow across pages as it does with a WordPerfect PDF import.
There are lots of honest reasons why you might need to use the content in a PDF file. The original electronic copy may have been misplaced, or the original author may not be available. Whatever the reason, WordPerfect adheres to Adobe’s specifications for security measures in PDF documents.
Password Protected PDF Files
The advantages of being able to reuse the text and graphics in a PDF file outweighs the seeming loss of security. In fact, a high level of security is still available for these files. If a password has been assigned to a PDF file, and you do not have that password, you will not be able to open it in WordPerfect.
In fact, you won’t even be able to view it, thus eliminating the afore-mentioned method of copying and pasting to gain content. No, if a password has been assigned to a PDF file, and you don’t have that password, you’ll need Adobe Reader or some other PDF application to open or edit the file.
Importing Text-Intensive PDF Files
Successful importing of PDF files depends in large part on the type of document you are working with. The cleanest conversions involve text-intensive PDF files. WordPerfect does an exceptional job of preserving text flow, even when the text is in columns and tables. Header and footer text in the PDF file is correctly placed into headers and footers in WordPerfect. Page numbering is preserved, bulleted and numbered lists are formatted with automatic numbering styles and precise spacing is maintained. In most cases, the irregularities in the converted file are resolved with the removal of a few extra codes, or blank lines.
Equally as important as sections of text, pictures and graphics in the PDF file are imported in their native formats, bitmap or vector, so it is easy to modify them or save them for later use.
Importing a “Design Document” PDF
With the two other common forms of PDF files, the text conversion is not as straightforward. These PDF files are called “design documents” and “scanned documents”. A design document is a PDF that was created with a design or drawing program, like CorelDRAW. The layout might consist of graphics that overlap, with lines of text that extend across the page (rather than paragraphs of text flowing down the page). WordPerfect can bring that text into the converted document and will try to preserve the way the text flows across the page. Graphics and pictures will also appear in the converted document where they can be saved for later use.
For example, say you you want to open a WalMart ad for editing and tweaking. With this type of graphics-intense PDF file, you’re better off opening it in CorelDRAW. Granted, you can open the file in WordPerfect, but the layout won’t be as close to the original as it would if you open it in CorelDRAW.
Importing Scanned PDF Files
The most difficult type of document to convert is a scanned document. If the PDF file was created from a document that was scanned, the scanner software saves the image as a graphic. The resulting PDF is essentially a picture of the original page – just like the picture of your family on your desk. Because the information is saved in one big image file, there is no way to break out the text from the rest of the elements.
Therefore, when converting a scanned document, WordPerfect X3 will import the full image, but you will not have access to the text. Why? Because as far as WordPerfect is concerned, the image is just a bunch of black and white dots. Early versions of the PDF import feature in WordPerfect were not capable of translating those dots into text. Happily, the current version of WordPerfect Office will import scanned text for repurposing.
Vendors like Nuance (formerly known as Scansoft) produces optical character recognition (OCR) applications. These applications can examine the image and pull out the text based on their knowledge of letter shapes. However, an OCR program might read a "to" as a "fo", especially in a faxed document that is blurry. For this reason, documents created with the help of an OCR application typically require very careful proofreading.
Use WordPerfect for Round Tripping PDF Documents
When you are traveling, a round trip means you return to the originating location. In this case, roundtripping refers to the process by which you can use WordPerfect not only to create PDF files, but also to open those files later, so the content can be repurposed. There is one thing you can count on with WordPerfect – the documents that you create and published to PDF using WordPerfect – those documents will import perfectly.
Importing a PDF File in WordPerfect
The process is so simple, it would be easy to leave this part out. All you need to do is open the file. If a password has been assigned to the file, you will be prompted for it. If you don’t have the password, or if you type the wrong password in, you’ll see an error message “PDF cannot be opened for editing because it is encrypted or corrupted”.
To import a PDF file, choose File > Open. In the Open File dialog box, browse to the PDF file, then double-click it (to open it). Starting with WordPerfect X4, you can customize the importing process in the Open PDF Settings dialog box(see Figure 1).
The Open PDF Settings dialog box contains options to help you control the importing process.
If the PDF document is protected by a password, type the password in the Password box. In the event that both permission and open passwords have been used, type the permission password in the Password box. If the situation warrants it, you can opt to bring in the content from the original PDF without any formatting.
There are several options for converting text. The default option to automatically recognize the text and images is the best option for opening scanned PDF files. The second option will extract text even if it is within images. The last option disables the text recognition feature so scanned pages will appear as images in the document and text will not be extracted from images.
By default, WordPerfect imports the entire file, but you can specify a range of pages if you like. Just follow the format shown to specify only those pages that you want.
When you are finished, click Open. The PDF Import message box appears to show you the progress of the importing process (see Figure 2).
The PDF Import status box shows you the progress of the importing process.
If you like, click the Learn More button to open a help topic entitled “Importing PDF files for editing”. When the conversion process is complete, choose OK. If you would prefer to have the dialog box close automatically when the conversion is complete, place a check mark in the Close This Dialog Box When Import Completes check box. The imported PDF file appears in a new document window (see Figure 3).
The User Guide for WordPerfect Office PDF file is open in a new WordPerfect window.
Once the text and images are displayed in WordPerfect, you can treat it just like any other document. You can save it as a WordPerfect or Microsoft Word document, or you could make your changes and publish it back to PDF.
Tip: WordPerfect has long be able to publish documents in PDF format. Starting with version X3, improvements to WordPerfect Office extend this ability to spreadsheets that you create in Quattro Pro and presentations that you create in Presentations. Now, you can publish all of your work in the open PDF format without additional software.