[Solved] Deleting junk created by dragging PDF into document

[Rich Adams]

*sighs*

After reading all the nice stuff about images and how well Writer deals with them, I thought I could avoid having to make Snapshots, and I could add the PDF directly to Writer.

Mistake.

By dragging the PDF file and dropping it into the document, I went from about 40 pages to 117 pages, all filled with machine language programming junk (to my eyes). It could not be undone (CTRL-Z was not my friend this time). I also could not highlight and delete it (I was going to delete it page by page). It highlighted just fine, but could not be deleted.

Any suggestions on how to delete the unwanted pages and pages of junk? Or will I need to do a massive copy and paste of what I want to keep into a new document?

This didn't seem like rocket science, and I used to work with rocket scientists.

Thanks

--Rich

[RusselB]

A PDF file is not meant to be dragged and dropped into a Writer file.... in fact, they were originally meant to be the equivalent of a electronic printing, similar to what you would get from your printer, but in electronic form. not on paper.
There is an extension to import PDFs, but there are mixed reviews as to whether it works or not... Some people have reported that it works with no problems, others have stated that it doesn't work at all.
In either case, Writer is not designed to take the information from a PDF file directly.
You could try using http://www.zamzar.com to convert the PDF to a .doc file, then import the .doc file into Writer.

[robleyd]

If you haven't saved the damaged file, simply exit without saving and re-open your un-trashed version of the file.

[Zizi64]

By dragging the PDF file and dropping it into the document,

It's a pretty bad habit. Always use the regular ways to insert foreign contents into your documents.
- Always optimize the images before you insert them with the "Insert - ..." menu item.
- Always paste the textual contents "as an unformatted text", and then re-format them in your document.

[Bill]

The PDF file was probably inserted in a write-protected section (that's what happened when I tried it). Remove the write protection so you can delete the contents of the section and remove it.

Note: I also tried it with LO. LO did not insert a section but did insert the first page of the 4-page pdf document as an image.

[Rich Adams]

Since I have no clue how to unprotect a write-protected block of junk, I followed the advice and just closed it without saving. That cleared it. Thanks.

[Bill]

Since I have no clue how to unprotect a write-protected block of junk, I followed the advice and just closed it without saving. That cleared it. Thanks.

You will find it in Help if you look for "sections". You won't find it if you look for "block of junk".

[Lupp]

Emmm...
I'm still wondering what you (Rich Adams) expected to get. A pdf will mostly be a multipage thing.

Recent LibreOffice inserts pdf if dropped with the mouse in a way I would call "image mode": Only the first page is shown, and it is positioned and sized like an image would have been.

Is this what you wanted?

(AOO would offer to insert the pdf as a new section, I suppose.)

[Rich Adams]

I suppose it is true that a PDF will mostly be a multipage thing. As I mentioned in a different post, the PDFs are my own creation, made when exporting a .MSCZ from Musescore to a .PDF. The scores are short traditional dance pieces, frequently taking up 1/4 to 1/3 of a page. The book I'm creating uses 2 to 3 of those PDFs per page. As I was criticized for using snapshot to capture the image, I tried doing what I *thought* had been suggested. It wasn't. I have since returned to my tried and true method.

If you are still unclear what I'm trying to do, please visit my website at www.beniciasession.org/conc8 and look in the "SETS" section. Note that I am not a web designer nor webmaster, so what you see is functional and the best I can do. My project is putting all the music scores on that site into a single, multi-page document. I just took my finished protoype to the printers today to see how it ended up.

Cheers!

[Zizi64]

As I was criticized for using snapshot to capture the image, I tried doing what I *thought* had been suggested. It wasn't.

The snapshots are a good way to insert pictures into a textual document.
Note: do not (never!) do it directly (by drag&drop or copy/paste) - from the source to a document.

Follow these steps strictly:

1.: Always save the snapsots (or the downloaded pictures) into image files with a lossless compression (for example: .PNG); or choose the lossless type of the picture if it available to download in more than one file format. Save them onto your computer.
2.: And then open the pictures in a third party image manager software (for example: InfanView).
3.: Crop the pictures (crop the irrelevant part of the picture)
4.: Decrease the color depth from 24 bit 'million colors' to (at least) 8 bit (256 colors). Maybe it is enough lesser number of colors for the musical notes.
5.: Resize/resample the picture to an optimal DPI and to the real phisycal size (that size you need in the document). Not needed more than 200 dpi relative resolution in a printed document.
6.: Resave the optimized document into a lossless compression format (.PNG)
7.: Use the regular (orderly) method to insert the picture into a document. From the Menu: Insert - ...

[Lupp]

As I (and probably somebody else) was criticized for criticizing I want to apologize.
However: I cannot promise to have in mind every "other post" or whatever might be related without mention.

Once again: LibreOffice Writer should do as you want: It accepts a pdf by drag'n drop and handles it like an image by adopting the width to the available space within the page margins.

You may throw a glance into the attached example. It's what I got with LibreOffice by dragging and dropping one of your "Tunes" in. The first page was set to my standard margins (2 cm at every edge), the second page was set to zero margin left and right. The adaption was made automatically by Writer.

To be clear: I first had to download the pdf from your site to my file system.
And to be clear once more: You cannot do it this way using AOO, but you can inspect the result with a recent AOO.
(I tested with AOO V 4.1.5.)

[greyinblue]

MuseScore allows export to png. Multipage scores are exported as single files that can be inserted into Writer. By default they will fill the available text space in the Writer file. No need for pdf at all.