Pdf/Vista

[Michel Camiré]

Hello,

I'm a newcomer to Open Office. I have the latest Vista version installed and everything seems to work correctly.
However , if i try to open a PDF document, it will not succeed; there are some characters loading but the end result is certainly not a readable pdf file.
What is it i'm not understanding correctly as far as PDF documents are concerned?

many thanks!

[acknak]

What software are you using to open the PDF? Are you just double-clicking the output PDF file icon?

[hol.sten]

However , if i try to open a PDF document

Do you try to open PDF documents with OpenOffice.org? If so, this is not possible, although OOo can create them.
If you have problems opening PDF documents that were created with OOo that may be caused by the fonts you use. OOo can only embed TrueType fonts into documents. So if you use OpenType fonts for example, that may cause problems, too.

[Michel Camiré]

Ok,

I didn`t noticed the ".ORG " when i clicked on the Opene Office Writer program; does it mean that each and everytime
i open any program in the OOo suite i'm opening the programs on a web site ? If it is so , is it possible to do otherwise?
In any case , i 1st opened OpenOfficeo.Org Writer, then from there i went to File>Open looked for the PDf and clicked on it.
If this is not working, how can i open PDF documents in OOo ? Is this possible at all ? I mean it should be if one considers the quantity of PDF available.

Again, many thanks.

[floris v]

No. Open Office is a trademark by another company, which was only discovered when Sun's OO had been in use for a while, since then Sun's OpenOffice is called OpenOfice.org to differentiate it from the original product. Everything you do in OOo happens on your computer, with no interference from any website - unless you choose to do differently.
Re your other question: you cannot open a pdf file in OOo, and not in Word either. You can open it in any generic pdf viewer, like Adobe Acrobat Reader.

[Hagar Delest]

how can i open PDF documents in OOo ? Is this possible at all ? I mean it should be if one considers the quantity of PDF available.

As said, it's not possible. PDF is not a format for edition, it's the final print of a document, that's all. If you need to edit such document, you've to ask the author to provide you the working copy.

Note that there is an PDF import feature under development but I can't see its utility at all. Better copy and paste the content, it will avoid all the tons of formatting layers that such an import will create.

[Michel Camiré]

Again,

Note that there is an PDF import feature under development but I can't see its utility at all. Better copy and paste the content, it will avoid all the tons of formatting layers that such an import will create.

If i read you correctly, i can copy/paste a pdf in OOo ? if such is the case, in what type of document will it appear
in OOo?

Many thanks for your helpful answers.

Edit:

[floris v]

If i read you correctly, i can copy/paste a pdf in OOo ? if such is the case, in what type of document will it appear in OOo?

Just try. Finding out things for yourself is so much more satisfying than getting the answers served on a platter.

[hol.sten]

If i read you correctly, i can copy/paste a pdf in OOo ? if such is the case, in what type of document will it appear
in OOo?

Copy and paste of a PDF works like this:
- You create a new OOo Writer document
- You open your PDF with Adobe Reader, FoxitReader or whatever you like to view PDF documents
- You select in your PDF everything you want to copy. This works, if the PDF doesn't forbids it, which it can.
- You paste the selected part into your OOo Writer document
- You select "Save" from the OOo Writer menu and select your prefered file type. So you decide which type of document you copy your PDF to in OOo Writer.

[Corfy]

For the most part, PDF files are designed to be read-only. The point of a PDF is you can pull them up on any computer and see exactly what was intended, regardless of whether or not it is the same operating system, the same programs, or (as is often the case with many other file formats), the same fonts installed on the computers (with normal word processing programs, even having a different version of the same font can throw off the formatting for an entire document between different computers). There are a few programs out there that will edit PDF files, but generally speaking, that is the exception, not the norm (and most of those programs are expensive).

[huw]

Note that there is an PDF import feature under development but I can't see its utility at all. Better copy and paste the content, it will avoid all the tons of formatting layers that such an import will create.

It's focussed on vector graphics, not text, as I understand it. Now that is useful.

A tortuous but quite reliable way of editing PDF text content without losing formatting is to print, scan, and OCR it!

[floris v]

A tortuous but quite reliable way of editing PDF text content without losing formatting is to print, scan, and OCR it!

You forget the proofreading. IMO OCR is terribly unreliable, it's just slightly better than re-entering it.

[huw]

A tortuous but quite reliable way of editing PDF text content without losing formatting is to print, scan, and OCR it!

You forget the proofreading. :twisted: IMO OCR is terribly unreliable, it's just slightly better than re-entering it.

Last time I used it seriously, around 2004, I did a double take. The scan flickered once and seemed to snap into focus. I thought it had just sharpened the raster image as a first step, but nothing else seemed to be going on so I grabbed the mouse and discovered it was finished! Not only were there no typos, but the fonts and point sizes were accurate too. This was with a commercial package. I think it was the one built into Adobe Acrobat, which is far from cheap.