Tag Archives: import pdfs

DOTSOFT tools – Importing Linework from a PDF

Every now and then we find ourselves in a pinch for data. I don’t know how many times I have had nothing but a PDF to go on..

Well, it appears that a PDF is lot more useful than I first thought. Particular If it’s a vector PDF, you can usually tell if it is by zooming in and out on the PDF and you will see all the linework generate separately.

I won’t lie, I haven’t found a free tool to do this yet. But over at DOTSOFT Tools an application called PDF2DWG http://www.dotsoft.com/pdf2dwg.htm for 95 US sheets does get the job done very nicely.

I’ve actually bought the entire toolpac package that comes with PDF2DWG ($245), good value if you ask me. You can find the tool in the ribbon after installing, along with a host of other useful ones.

Select a PDF, even a multipage one

Lots of options here as well. Detect line weights, removing little raster images (particularly use for PDFS generated by GIS programs) and even the ability to convert image-based pdfs to linework (can’t verify how well this works though)

Hit process and voila! Massive time saver, that can pull you out of a “not enough data” situation very quickly.

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Text Recognition in JPG’s using Adobe Acrobat XI..

If you like manually entering information/text from jpg’s and images please disregard this post…

I think this is a handy tip though.

Say I have a low quality jpeg that looks like below.. I want all the text from it.. but the problem is, it is an image..!

Not a problem!.. read below.

Open the image in Adobe Acrobat Pro.. im using version XI… but you can use version 9 too.

From the edit menu select “Edit Text & images”

A new bar appears on the right.. in the “Text Recognition Section” – select “in this file”.. (You can also do this for multiple files)

If you just want what you are looking at select the “current page” otherwise select all pages

Now the magic happens.. all the text is selectable… just copy and paste to wherever you need it.

Now in excel

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