Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: Alfred

Don't get carried away.  I said there are certain technical issues to overcome.  And I keep repeating we are retaining the basic structure.

One great advantage I have is that I can look up my own posts as they usually already incorporate dev answers unearthed during the research.  There ought to not be too many subject areas I haven't posted on in the past.  Plus the hidden contribution from the devs.

Alfred

quote:

ORIGINAL: Reg

quote:

ORIGINAL: witpqs

The compatibility will depend on what format the file is currently stored in. "There was a time" when Microsoft deliberately made their newer storage formats for Word and such have subtle incompatibilities with non-MS software. They swore off of that behavior a number of years ago. But note the skeptical quotation marks!

Given how old the current manual is, the doc is about guaranteed to be in a format that other software (such as LibreOffice) can read and write without problems. Because of Microsoft's better behavior, the same should be true of the newer MS formats if the document owner's insist on a newer Microsoft proprietary format. They should opt for an Open Document Format, as it is just that and they shouldn't lose anything in doing so.

It looks like there are multiple options for reading in PDF files; I'm looking for one that is a straight up import with retention of markup/layout. I'll get back to you.

I originally asked the question about tools as I suspected this might be the case.

You might like to look at this link: Semi OT: Seeking help with "indexing" of the updated PDF manual (for WitE - I am in charge for it)!

I have just uploaded the manual into Libre Office (thankfully no edit security) and as I suspected it imports it into Libre Draw not Writer. This is not the ideal tool for this task. ie text lines are individual entities not paragraphs which makes inserting text a real pain in the a#$$ (no automatic line overflow...). By the way, Acrobat writer works in exactly the same way.
I tested that and it loads it into either Draw or the slide maker program (forget the name at this instant). Not practical for the project as pagination is needed.

You did better than me getting it into docx (XML format) though I seem to remember OpenOffice could do something like this.
Not sure what you mean, I didn't get any PDF into XML? Maybe someone else's post?

What you really need is a copy of the original source file or run the current pdf manual through a MS Office converter to create an edititable source file (though document security can defeat that). PDF is not really an editable file format.

Once you have a good source file, Office 2007 will be just fine as an editor. Don't forget the humble screen print button of your computer - it works!! (Paste straight into Word and you can crop/edit/resize from there).
The problem with editing in MS Word (any version) is that it costs money for whomever has it. Using an open document format has the advantages of 1) more modern markup and 2) using any editor that properly support the open document standards.

There are several freeware pdf print drivers such as CutePDF (www.cutepdf.com) which I use (though it installs other unwanted stuff) which will output a pdf document from any application which can print (including office 2007) but will not include niceities such as index links.
This stuff is not necessary anymore as most or all modern stuff has built-in output to PDF. Heck, even when I print from an application there is a Windows driver there - built-in to the operating system IIRC - that will make a PDF instead. If you've got an older OS with older apps then those drivers are a great help.

As per the link above, the tool of choice I believe is Adobe InDesign Suite but it is as expensive as all getout.... (and has a learning curve similar to WITP-AE )

However, there seems to be offerings out there where you can "rent" software for a limited time period at a monthly rate. This might be a better option that buying sophisticated (and expensive) software for a single task. Adobe Creative Cloud

Best of luck!!

To the rest of you guys, keep your suggestions coming - don't let us derail the thread....

quote:

ORIGINAL: witpqs

Going to read your linked thread in a second, meanwhile some comments.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Reg

quote:

ORIGINAL: witpqs

The compatibility will depend on what format the file is currently stored in. "There was a time" when Microsoft deliberately made their newer storage formats for Word and such have subtle incompatibilities with non-MS software. They swore off of that behavior a number of years ago. But note the skeptical quotation marks!

Given how old the current manual is, the doc is about guaranteed to be in a format that other software (such as LibreOffice) can read and write without problems. Because of Microsoft's better behavior, the same should be true of the newer MS formats if the document owner's insist on a newer Microsoft proprietary format. They should opt for an Open Document Format, as it is just that and they shouldn't lose anything in doing so.

It looks like there are multiple options for reading in PDF files; I'm looking for one that is a straight up import with retention of markup/layout. I'll get back to you.

I originally asked the question about tools as I suspected this might be the case.

You might like to look at this link: Semi OT: Seeking help with "indexing" of the updated PDF manual (for WitE - I am in charge for it)!

I have just uploaded the manual into Libre Office (thankfully no edit security) and as I suspected it imports it into Libre Draw not Writer. This is not the ideal tool for this task. ie text lines are individual entities not paragraphs which makes inserting text a real pain in the a#$$ (no automatic line overflow...). By the way, Acrobat writer works in exactly the same way.
I tested that and it loads it into either Draw or the slide maker program (forget the name at this instant). Not practical for the project as pagination is needed.

You did better than me getting it into docx (XML format) though I seem to remember OpenOffice could do something like this.
Not sure what you mean, I didn't get any PDF into XML? Maybe someone else's post?

What you really need is a copy of the original source file or run the current pdf manual through a MS Office converter to create an edititable source file (though document security can defeat that). PDF is not really an editable file format.

Once you have a good source file, Office 2007 will be just fine as an editor. Don't forget the humble screen print button of your computer - it works!! (Paste straight into Word and you can crop/edit/resize from there).
The problem with editing in MS Word (any version) is that it costs money for whomever has it. Using an open document format has the advantages of 1) more modern markup and 2) using any editor that properly support the open document standards.

There are several freeware pdf print drivers such as CutePDF (www.cutepdf.com) which I use (though it installs other unwanted stuff) which will output a pdf document from any application which can print (including office 2007) but will not include niceities such as index links.
This stuff is not necessary anymore as most or all modern stuff has built-in output to PDF. Heck, even when I print from an application there is a Windows driver there - built-in to the operating system IIRC - that will make a PDF instead. If you've got an older OS with older apps then those drivers are a great help.

As per the link above, the tool of choice I believe is Adobe InDesign Suite but it is as expensive as all getout.... (and has a learning curve similar to WITP-AE )

However, there seems to be offerings out there where you can "rent" software for a limited time period at a monthly rate. This might be a better option that buying sophisticated (and expensive) software for a single task. Adobe Creative Cloud

Best of luck!!

To the rest of you guys, keep your suggestions coming - don't let us derail the thread....

I've found several tools that will convert PDF to Word format, which then can easily and accurately be read into LibreOffice (or most anything else) and saved as an open document text file. Many are online free conversions, but I suspect something that runs locally is more desirable here. I'm just still looking to see if I can find one that goes directly to open document format. Then of course comes testing things out.

The very worst case is that the text is obtained with some degree of markup, and then a manual clean up effort is the last step in the conversion process.

quote:

ORIGINAL: MBF

At the risk of sounding noobish - would Google Drive be appropriate for portions of this project and limiting who can see/share/edit etc ?

quote:

ORIGINAL: witpqs

You did better than me getting it into docx (XML format) though I seem to remember OpenOffice could do something like this.
Not sure what you mean, I didn't get any PDF into XML? Maybe someone else's post?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Reg

quote:

ORIGINAL: witpqs

You did better than me getting it into docx (XML format) though I seem to remember OpenOffice could do something like this.
Not sure what you mean, I didn't get any PDF into XML? Maybe someone else's post?

Hi witps,

At the risk of de-railing the conversation again, when Office (2010?) went from .doc save files to .docx, the propriety file format went to XML (have a close look at a save file). This makes them a lot more portable and are easier to import into other conversion tools such as Calibre (e-book creator) - Hey look, another option......

The comment above was a result of my dementia - in the past I have had to convert files to docx before I could process them further. I just can't remember how I did it.

I only suggested Adobe Suite as PDF is their file format and they have developed some powerful tools to manipulate the documents. I bought a copy for my daughter so I have seen some of it's capabilities but I have not used it myself.

At least this conversation has brought up some options for Alfred.

quote:

ORIGINAL: rockmedic109

This would be a monumental task with pay. Without pay.....I humbly stand here unworthy and in awe. Thank You.