Which is the best Software you can buy to convert PDF into Excel ? Initiator des Themas: Rita Utt
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Rita Utt 
Frankreich
Local time: 15:48
Englisch > Deutsch
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For translation of annual reports, so I'm not interested in free online tools ...
Is there an efficient tool to extract all those tables into Excel (without having to check all numbers?)
I do have a very old Abby Fine Reader, but it's no good for tables.
Any better ideas or a newer version you could recommend ?
| | | | | | Dan Lucas
Vereinigtes Königreich
Local time: 14:48
Mitglied (2014)
Japanisch > Englisch
| Do you mean dead PDFs? | Jan 10, 2019 |
Rita Utt wrote:
I do have a very old Abby Fine Reader, but it's no good for tables.
Rita, do you mean PDF files that are not machine-readable? In that case it's down to OCR, and I have found v14 of FineReader reasonably good at that. However, I have found most annual reports are machine-readable these days.
Regards,
Dan
| | | | Rita Utt
Frankreich
Local time: 15:48
Englisch > Deutsch
+ ...
THEMENSTARTER | Machine readable ? | Jan 11, 2019 |
Hello,
thank you for your answer,
but sorry, I'm not very good in PDF-technology.
Does machine readable mean, PDF-Files I could write in, if I had the appropriate software (which would be what ?) ?
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Rita Utt
Frankreich
Local time: 15:48
Englisch > Deutsch
+ ...
THEMENSTARTER
I would like to use an online-Tool, but I'm worried about confidentiality ...
Or do you think I shouldn't be ?
| | | | Samuel Murray
Niederlande
Local time: 15:48
Mitglied (2006)
Englisch > Afrikaans
+ ...
| @Rita: no, none | Jan 11, 2019 |
Rita Utt wrote:
Is there an efficient tool to extract all those tables into Excel (without having to check all numbers?)
No, you're always going to have to check the numbers.
Even if the PDF is editable, i.e. you can copy the text and paste it in a text editor, you can't predict in which sequent the PDF creator added the numbers. Programs that outputs PDF do not write the table cells in necessarily the same sequence as in Excel (often there doesn't seem to be any logic to it). In addition, as you may know, copy/pasting from a table sometimes converts the tabs into spaces, but sometimes converts them into nothing, so numbers end up all squished together. So even if you can copy/paste the numbers, you'd still have to check them.
There was a time when I translated annual and financial reports, and for that I always used Acrobat 5.0.5 to copy the text, because Acrobat 5.0.5 has a block copy feature called "column select" which was replaced in modern versions of Acrobat with something called "graphics select", which can't copy blocks of text. However, most modern PDF files are "PDF 1.6" files, and Acrobat 5.0.5 can only open PDF 1.4, and the only way I know of to convert a PDF 1.6 file to a PDF 1.4 file is by using an online converter. Also, not all columns in PDF files like to be selected, so sometimes you just can't win.
Added: I just discovered that my current PDF program (PDF X Change) can copy columns, if you press the Alt key while dragging with the mouse.
[Edited at 2019-01-11 09:41 GMT]
| | | | Heinrich Pesch
Finnland
Local time: 16:48
Mitglied (2003)
Finnisch > Deutsch
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| Error prone process | Jan 11, 2019 |
I would ask for the original file format, Excel or whatever, and not try to convert to from pdf. It might take ages to get the stuff formatted. If the customer does the conversation themselves, that's another possibility. You translate that and the customer takes over the formatting. If the result is not good enough its not your problem.
| | | | Dan Lucas
Vereinigtes Königreich
Local time: 14:48
Mitglied (2014)
Japanisch > Englisch
| Can be read by CAT or other tools | Jan 11, 2019 |
Rita Utt wrote:
Does machine readable mean, PDF-Files I could write in, if I had the appropriate software (which would be what ?) ?
For many/most recently generated PDF files, the text they contain can be read by software such as SDL Studio, MemoQ, etc. So you can often import the file, translate the text, and then create a Word file that is similar to the original. If you use a CAT tool, try it with an annual report created within the past 12 months.
But also, if you have a client who is inquiring about it, why not ask them if they have a recommended work flow.
Regards,
Dan
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John Fossey
Kanada
Local time: 09:48
Mitglied (2008)
Französisch > Englisch
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| Get the orriginal file | Jan 11, 2019 |
I have several clients that come to me each year for their annual report. For these I have asked for the original file, since no document was originally created as a PDF file. Some were created in Word, others were created in InDesign. The tables are often embedded Excel files. All these formats can be translated directly in a CAT tool, eliminating the need of conversion.
[Edited at 2019-01-11 14:21 GMT]
| | | | Drew MacFadyen
Vereinigte Staaten
Local time: 09:48
Spanisch > Englisch
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| ProZ.com Plus members receive 10 free credits at TransPDF a month | Jan 11, 2019 |
ProZ.com Plus members have access to 10 free credits at https://www.iceni.com/transpdf.htm per month. Simply login using your ProZ.com profile. Non-members can purchase credits at a discount. That said, I've no information as to TransPDF ability to maintain the formatting of data in Excel tables.
Regards,
Drew MacFadyen
| | | | Rita Utt
Frankreich
Local time: 15:48
Englisch > Deutsch
+ ...
THEMENSTARTER | Your are right | Jan 11, 2019 |
I'll ask for the original files (before conversion to PDF), much safer.
Have a nice year, all of you and thank you very much for your help.
Rita
| | | | Luca Gentili
Belgien
Local time: 15:48
Englisch > Italienisch
+ ...
| Just to share knowledge | Mar 21, 2019 |
Non-machine-readable PDFs (i.e. scanned images into a PDF file) can be converted into text by MS Office ONE NOTE. The procedure is as simple as: copy/paste/include the image/pdf file into a OneNote page left-click it and select the option "Copy Text from Picture".
HIH
Luca
[edited] I did not try it on excel-like tables, yet.
[Edited at 2019-03-21 12:43 GMT]
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| That was helpful! | Mar 22, 2019 |
Luca Gentili wrote:
Non-machine-readable PDFs (i.e. scanned images into a PDF file) can be converted into text by MS Office ONE NOTE. The procedure is as simple as: copy/paste/include the image/pdf file into a OneNote page left-click it and select the option "Copy Text from Picture".
HIH
Luca
[edited] I did not try it on excel-like tables, yet.
[Edited at 2019-03-21 12:43 GMT]
I just tried this on a nasty piece of word file with stupidly pasted tables in picture format (screenshots from a non-editable pdf).
I have already rejected that job and I would do so in the future as well. But I am impressed with this workaround.
The "text" thus obtained still needs a lot of editing but it may come in handy, who knows.
Elif
| | | | Rolf Keller
Deutschland
Local time: 15:48
Englisch > Deutsch
| Converters aren't perfect | Mar 25, 2019 |
Samuel Murray wrote:
Programs that outputs PDF do not write the table cells in necessarily the same sequence as in Excel
The other way round isn't problem-free either. While writing a FROM-Excel-Konverter I've just discovered that Excel's cells sometimes aren't in the expected sequence. If the x-th cell in a row is empty, Excel shifts the (x+1)-th cell backwards to position x, so that the current row may include less cells than other rows. Of course one can overcome this, but only IF one knows about it.
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