Manipulating text with the TouchUp tools
Modifying graphics with the TouchUp tools
Pulling text and graphics out of PDFs for use in other documents
You may assume that PDF files are mere pictures of your documents and can't be edited, but nothing is further from the truth. Adobe Acrobat includes a variety of tools for editing both text and graphics. You can use these tools as long as the file hasn't been secured to prohibit editing. We introduce you to these great tools in this chapter. (We discuss security, which allows you to limit access to these tools, in Chapter 6 of this minibook.)
The tools for editing text and graphics are located on the Advanced Editing toolbar (see Figure 4-1).
Tip
You can add several TouchUp tools to the Advanced Editing toolbar by choosing View
For text tools, you have three choices:
The TouchUp Reading Order tool isn't used for changing the appearance of the document, so we don't discuss it in this chapter.
The TouchUp Text tool is used for touching up, or manipulating, text. This touchup can include changing actual text characters or the appearance of text. You can change cat to read dog, or you can change black text to blue, or you can even change the Helvetica font to the Times font.
Note
When you change a PDF file, the original source document isn't modified.
You have a few ways to accomplish text edits:
Choose the TouchUp Text tool, click within the text that you want to change to obtain an insertion point, and then start typing the new text.
Click with the TouchUp tool in your text and press the Backspace or Delete key to delete text.
With the TouchUp tool, drag to highlight text and enter new text to replace the highlighted text.
When changing text — whether you're adding or deleting — Acrobat tries to use the font that was specified in the original document. Sometimes, this font is built into the PDF file, which means that it's embedded in the file. Other times, the font may not be available either because it hasn't been embedded or it's been embedded as a subset where only some of the characters from the font are included in the PDF file. In these cases, Acrobat may provide the following warning message:
All or part of the selection has no available system font. You cannot add or delete text using the currently selected font.
Fortunately, you can change the font if you need to edit the text. However, when you change the font, the text may not retain the same appearance as the original document. In some instances, you may not have the exact same font on your computer as the font used in the PDF document, but you may have a similar font you can use without causing a noticeable change — most people won't notice the difference between Helvetica and Arial or between Times and Times New Roman. Fonts with the same name but from different font designers often look very similar. For example, Adobe Garamond looks similar to ITC Garamond, even though they're two different fonts.
To change the font that's used for a word or a range of words, follow these steps:
With the TouchUp Text tool, drag over the text you wish to select.
You may get a
Loading System Fontsmessage followed by anotherLoading Document Fontsmessage. Depending on the number of fonts installed on your system, it may take a while for this message to disappear.Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) the highlighted text and choose Properties from the contextual menu.
The TouchUp Properties dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 4-2.
In the Text tab, choose the typeface you want to use from the Font drop-down list and make any other changes you want.
In this dialog box, you can also change the size by selecting or typing a number into the Font Size drop-down list. In addition, you can modify the color by clicking the Fill color swatch.
When you're satisfied with your changes, click the Close button to apply your changes to the selected text.
You can use the TouchUp Object tool to access editing software for modifying graphics. For example, you can use the TouchUp Object tool to select a graphic, bring the graphic into Photoshop, and then save the modified version back into the PDF file. In other words, you can edit the graphics used in PDF documents, even if you don't have access to the original graphic files.
To edit a photographic file from Acrobat in Photoshop, follow these steps:
Select the image with the TouchUp Object tool, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) on a photographic image with the TouchUp Object tool, and then choose Edit Image from the contextual menu.
The image file opens in Adobe Photoshop.
With the many tools of Photoshop, make the necessary changes to the graphic and then choose File
Save.When you return to the PDF file in Acrobat, the graphic is updated automatically in the PDF document.
Note
If you have the original graphic file, it remains untouched — only the version used within the PDF file is modified. It isn't necessary to have the original graphic file to perform these steps.
You can also use Acrobat to edit vector objects from within PDF files, such as those created with Adobe Illustrator. Just follow these steps:
Select a piece of vector artwork with the TouchUp Object tool, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) the vector artwork, and then choose Edit Object from the contextual menu.
Note: Acrobat displays Edit Object in the contextual menu if it detects a vector object, and it displays Edit Image if it detects a bitmap image. Acrobat also displays Edit Objects (note the plural) if you have more than one object selected.
Tip
If you're editing a complex illustration, be sure to select all its components by holding down the Ctrl (Windows) or
After choosing Edit Object, the object opens for editing in Adobe Illustrator.
Make the necessary changes in Illustrator, choose File
Save.The graphic is updated in the PDF document.
Tip
If Acrobat doesn't start Photoshop or Illustrator after choosing the Edit Image or Edit Object command, you may need to access preferences by choosing Edit
Tip
You can also use the TouchUp Object tool to edit the position of text or graphic objects on a page, which includes the ability to relocate individual lines of text or to change the position of a graphic on a page. After you select an object with the TouchUp Object tool, you can simply drag it to a new location on the page.
Typewriter tool
You can use the Typewriter tool to type anywhere on the document. This tool resembles the Text Box tool, though its default properties are different. Access the Typewriter tool by choosing Tools
Likewise, to change the leading, you select the text and click the Increase or Decrease Line Spacing buttons. You can move or resize the Typewriter block by selecting it with the Select tool and either moving or resizing the text box. Your text remains editable. So, if you've made a mistake and want to correct it, or want to add or delete text, you select the Typewriter tool again and double-click in the type box.
Although editing text and graphics is helpful, you may need to take text or images from a PDF document and use them in another file. Fortunately, Acrobat also includes tools to make this a breeze. Of course, you should always make certain that you have the permission of the owner of a document before reusing content that isn't your original work.
You need the Select & Zoom toolbar for extracting text and graphics, so make sure that it's visible. If it isn't, choose View
You can export text, images, or charts from Acrobat by copying and pasting, by saving as a specific file type, or by using the Snapshot tool. These methods are discussed in detail in the following sections.
Make sure that the Select & Zoom toolbar is visible (choose View
With the Select tool, highlight the text you want to export.
The Select tool is the I-bar/black arrow in the toolbar. When you hold the arrow over a section of your document, it turns into an I-bar cursor, which you can drag to select the text you want to copy.
Tip
If the Cut, Copy, and Paste commands are unavailable after you've selected some text, the author of the document may have set the security settings to disallow copying. If you can't select the text, you may be trying to copy text that is part of an image.
Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) the selected text and choose Copy from the contextual menu.
Being able to extract the text out of a PDF document by selecting and copying it is useful if you don't have access to the original source document, but you need to use the text from a PDF file.
Open another text-editing program, such as Adobe InDesign or Microsoft Word.
You can paste the copied text into a new document or a preexisting file.
Insert your cursor in the document at the appropriate spot and choose File
Paste or EditPaste.The text is pasted into the document, ready for you to use.
The File
Here are the formats you can use to export text:
Microsoft Word Document: Click the Settings button to choose whether to save the comments or images with your document. If you choose to save the comments or images, you can select additional formatting options.
Rich Text Format: Click the Settings button to choose whether to save the comments or images with your document. If you choose to save the comments or images, you can select additional formatting options.
Text (Accessible): Use this format to create a file that can be printed to a Braille printer.
Text (Plain) (Secondary Settings): This format creates a plain vanilla file with no formatting. You can save some secondary options in various file encodings. Also, you can select to save the images in your PDF in a separate images folder.
Encapsulated PostScript, PostScript: These formats are generally used by commercial printers or IT professionals that need PostScript output.
Various Adobe PDF options, such as PDF/E for engineering or PDF/A for archiving: These are used to switch to a specific subset of the PDF file format used for a particular industry or line of work.
Various graphics formats (JPEG, JPEG2000, PNG, TIFF): If you choose one of these options, your text will no longer be editable as the entire PDF pages are converted to an image.
Note
Text that's copied from a PDF file is no longer linked to the original document. Edits made to the extracted text aren't reflected within the PDF file, and it's extremely difficult to have the extracted text reinserted into the PDF document. Think of the extraction process as a one-way trip for the text, which can be extracted but not reinserted.
You can also copy text within a table to the Clipboard or open it directly in a spreadsheet program, such as Microsoft Excel, and maintain the table's formatting after it's extracted. Just follow these steps:
Click the Select tool and click and drag to select the text in the table.
Depending upon how the table was created, you may also be able to position your cursor just outside the edge of the table and then draw a box around a table.
A border appears around the selected table.
Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) and choose Open Table in Spreadsheet from the contextual menu.
Alternatively, you can save the table directly to a file or copy to the Clipboard to be pasted later: If Acrobat has trouble identifying the text in the table, it may be saved as an image file, which is not editable text.
To save the table directly to a file, choose Save as Table from the contextual menu.
To copy the table to the Clipboard so that you can paste it into other documents, choose Copy as Table from the contextual menu.
The table opens in Excel or whatever spreadsheet program you have installed on your computer.
And that's it. You can now use that table in another program.
You can use the Snapshot tool to select both text and images and create a picture of a certain area within a PDF file. The result is commonly referred to as a screen grab of a section within a PDF file. The result is an image, and your text is no longer editable.
To use the Snapshot tool, choose Tools
After you select the Snapshot tool, click anywhere in the page. The snapshot tool automatically captures everything displayed on the screen.
After you select the Snapshot tool, click and drag a rectangle around an area of the page.
You can include text and images. The area you've selected will be saved to the Clipboard so that you can paste it into another document. The Snapshot tool remains active so that you can keep selecting areas and saving them to the Clipboard. However, the previous selection in your Clipboard is deleted when you make a new selection. So, make certain you've pasted a selection into your other document before you make a new selection.
Tip
You have to select another tool to deactivate the Snapshot tool.