[Solved] Please Help!!! Dragged a PDF into a DOC and now its

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bobjaret
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[Solved] Please Help!!! Dragged a PDF into a DOC and now its

Post by bobjaret »

I made the mistake of trying to drag a PDF doc into a Open Office 4.1.3 document. Instead of copying the contents of the PDF It translated the PDF into code and put the code on the document. Now said code is locked. I cant delete it, i cant Undo it and I cant edit it. Worse yet I didn't save beforehand so my document is ruined. I've tried to copy and past what I had into another file, but the formatting is messed up, and I've spent hours getting it correct. :crazy:

Please help.
Last edited by RoryOF on Tue Oct 10, 2017 6:20 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Added green tick [RoryOF, Moderator]
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RusselB
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Re: Please Help!!! Dragged a PDF into a DOC and now its lock

Post by RusselB »

Open Office is not a PDF reader/editor. If you just want to read the PDF, then use a program like Adobe Acrobat (which is free).
If you want to edit the PDF, then you will have to pay for a decent PDF editor. but note that most PDF's are not meant to be edited.
While there is an extension that claims to allow one to due editing on a PDF. there have been a lot of conflicting reports.
You should still have the PDF that you dragged into Open Office, as nothing you have stated indicates that you deleted that file.
I can think of no reason that you shouldn't be able to just close Open Office, and when it asks about saving the file click the Discard button (rather than Save or Cancel)
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If you believe your problem has been resolved, please go to your first post in this topic, click the Edit button and add [Solved] to the beginning of the Subject line.
bobjaret
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Re: Please Help!!! Dragged a PDF into a DOC and now its lock

Post by bobjaret »

That world be fine, but if you had read my entire post you would have seen that I hadn't saved previous to adding the PDF. Ive since added the contents of the pdf to the document, but that dosnt change the fact that there is 200+ pages of raw code that i cant edit, or remove.
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RoryOF
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Re: Please Help!!! Dragged a PDF into a DOC and now its lock

Post by RoryOF »

In the original OpenOffice document, how much content was there before the PDF file was added? It may be possible, with careful editing of the underlying substructure with an XML editor, to remove the inserted PDF which OO does not understand (hence it shows as code). However, if there were only a few thousand words in the original file it may be quicker to rewrite.
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bobjaret
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Re: Please Help!!! Dragged a PDF into a DOC and now its lock

Post by bobjaret »

Thats a great idea. It wasnt so much the content that took time, but the formatting.

After trying that approach, it seems that its beyond my abilities. I cannot find any of the content of the doc in the editor.
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RoryOF
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Re: Please Help!!! Dragged a PDF into a DOC and now its lock

Post by RoryOF »

Without hands-on of your file we are working in the dark.

Investigate if there are OO Sections in your file (/Format /Sections will list the sections). If so, place your cursor in the PDF code and look at OO's Status Bar (bottom bar of OO window). Immediately to the left of the three little page icons on the righthand side will appear the name of the current Section. If so, use /Format /Sections: this section name should now be highlighted in the Section window. See if "Protected" is checked on that window in the Write Protection section. If so, uncheck it and press OK. You should now be able to edit (i,e., select and delete) the PDF "code".
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bobjaret
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Re: Please Help!!! Dragged a PDF into a DOC and now its lock

Post by bobjaret »

I really appreciate you taking the time to walk me through this, but i don't see those options in the editor.
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RoryOF
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Re: Please Help!!! Dragged a PDF into a DOC and now its lock

Post by RoryOF »

In /Format is the Sections entry greyed out? If so, there are no OO Sections in your file and my last posting is superfluous.
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bobjaret
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Re: Please Help!!! Dragged a PDF into a DOC and now its lock

Post by bobjaret »

This is all i could find.

https://imgur.com/a/Dzi5l
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RoryOF
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Re: Please Help!!! Dragged a PDF into a DOC and now its lock

Post by RoryOF »

content.xml is the file you want, a few entries above manifest.xml.

I'm offline now for some time
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Bill
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Re: Please Help!!! Dragged a PDF into a DOC and now its lock

Post by Bill »

RoryOF wrote:Without hands-on of your file we are working in the dark.

Investigate if there are OO Sections in your file (/Format /Sections will list the sections). If so, place your cursor in the PDF code and look at OO's Status Bar (bottom bar of OO window). Immediately to the left of the three little page icons on the righthand side will appear the name of the current Section. If so, use /Format /Sections: this section name should now be highlighted in the Section window. See if "Protected" is checked on that window in the Write Protection section. If so, uncheck it and press OK. You should now be able to edit (i,e., select and delete) the PDF "code".
bobjaret wrote:I really appreciate you taking the time to walk me through this, but i don't see those options in the editor.
You seem to be looking in the wrong place. Those options are in Writer, not the XML editor.

A quick test shows that when a PDF file is dragged into an open ODT docuemnt, IT IS INSERTED IN A PROTECTED SECTION, so Rory's suggestion is correct. Click in the "code" and select Format > Sections on the ODT file's Menu Bar. That opens the Edit Sections dialog for the section where the "Protected" option should be checked under "Write protection". That is what prevents removal of the "code". Uncheck the "Protected" option, then click "Remove". That removed the section, leaving the "code" as normal unprotected text which can be deleted.
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bobjaret
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Re: Please Help!!! Dragged a PDF into a DOC and now its lock

Post by bobjaret »

Thank you. That took care of it! I appreciate all the help guys.
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RoryOF
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Re: Please Help!!! Dragged a PDF into a DOC and now its lock

Post by RoryOF »

bobjaret wrote:It wasnt so much the content that took time, but the formatting.
Speaking generally, if formatting takes much time, this is because Direct Formatting is being used, where each item is specifically formatted. Using Styles for formatting is much quicker (and much more powerful).
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