PDF to word on Mac?

[HedeNelson]

Recently I turn to use Mac OS and download some free ebooks as reference for my work. These ebooks are in PDF format and I have installed Adobe reader for Mac to view them. It works well but what makes me confused is that I could hardly edit contents or copy them to my word document--I have installed MS office 2008. I have Acrobat in my windows PC but they could be used on Mac. Have you come across that problem? Plz give me a hand.

[jjchristy23]

I have ever encountered that case like you. At last I use PDF pen to resolve it. As I need not always does that work, so I just get a trial version. BTW, Acrobat cannot work on Mac and I hate that Apple and Adobe could not be compatible with each other. Sounds that you want to copy PDF to word for editing; maybe you could refer to Google and find some useful application for Mac.

[michl]

Yeah there are several solutions. As it turns out Solid Documents has launched Solid PDF to Word for Mac, for instance...

[fangpyre]

I use the built-in Preview.
Though it doesn't support editing.

Acrobat Reader should allow editing.

Both Preview and Reader support copying form PDF to Word if its still text, and not a scanned image.
For that you will need an OCR.

[michl]

I use the built-in Preview. Though it doesn't support editing.

Acrobat Reader should allow editing.

Both Preview and Reader support copying form PDF to Word if its still text, and not a scanned image. For that you will need an OCR.

True but that is only to extract the raw text... All formatting will be gone!
Whereas real PDF to Word converters preserve the format and layout, including tables, figures, headers and footers, etc.

I guess it all depends what one wants... Personally I use Stanza (free) to convert PDFs to epub, for instance, also to convert HTML to PDF...

[fangpyre]

I agree my method is crude, but I am rarely happy with the way any of these copy the formatting.
Then again, I haven't used it in some time.

[michl]

Agreed, this is a case where all the free methods are crude, while pay software can do a really good job.

By the way the latest MS Word format ('docx') is actually nothing but a ZIP archive in disguise, with a bunch of XML docs inside (known as "Office Open XML") -- which makes it much easier to convert the layout, incl. tables, figures, etc.

The old format was binary and proprietary and is was much harder to do anything but extract the raw text... (even though specs are available).

[jjchristy23]

Nichl has given some useful advice and applications. I think you need to have a try.

Also, I would want to suggest my resolutions. You can try to use AnyBizSoft PDF to Word for Mac, which is designed for Mac users who want to copy or edit PDF in word. From the operating panel to its shortcut functions, its all meet the users' operating habits. Just have a try too