PDF-Tools 4.0 doesn't convert jpg to pdf properly

[GaryC]

Hi Paul,

I tried to use PDF-Tools 4.0--after finally getting an installation to work without interfering with Adobe Reader XI--to do a conversion of a .jpg file to PDF. It had worked before with your software, now it doesn't, or more accurately, it does convert to a PDF file, but doing a search of the converted file with your software shows no hits. Before I did get hits.

Unfortunately, I can't upload the source file because I get a message across the top saying that The extension jpg is not allowed. "Test scan 3.pdf" is the output file.

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi Gary,

this is because the PDF is an image. There is no text information to select or search on. Simply hit the OCR button in the Viewer to make it searchable. See attached OCR'd version.

hth

[GaryC]

Okay, that works. Thanks.

I did have trouble finding the file once I OCR'd it. I did look at the Options, but found them confusing. I will eventually figure this out.

Also, when I opened the OCR'd file in Adobe Reader XI it could not do a search. It only works in PDF-XChange Viewer. Why is that?

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi Gary,

the sample file I sent is searchable in Adobe, yours should be too. The OCR works by adding an invisible text layer over the top of the image. Once OCR is done just use the regular select/highlight etc to work with the text. You would need to save the document after performing OCR then open it in Adobe and it should work.

There is no 'new' file - it modifies your existing file. Does that clear this up?

[GaryC]

I opened the copy you sent me in AR XI. It is not searchable using Ctrl-F or the Advanced Search function. Are you using Adobe Reader XI?

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Are you using Adobe Reader XI?

Yes I am and it is searchable for me :








It should be the same for you... Maybe the specific word you searched for did not get recognized in the OCR. Can you try searching for Menu?

[GaryC]

I put my computer to sleep overnight. When I woke it up this morning Adobe Reader had frozen up. Never had that happen. I could not unload the program directly. I had to use Windows Program Manager. AR XI is now working, but still no luck.

I tried searching on "Menu." Same results: nothing.

I will admit this is extremely weird. I am using version 11.0.0 of AR XI like you are. I generally don't update unless I am having relevant problems. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Here's something else I noticed. When I open another pdf file with AR XI and look at Help > About Adobe Reader it freezes the program. Do you have a similar problem with your version of AR? I tried updating to 11.0.2. That made no difference. I tried disabling the plug-in for AR in Firefox. That didn't make any difference. Tell me if you have similar issues. Right now I am stumped. Are you running Windows 7, X-64 like me? Could that be the problem?

Now I find that I can't really disable the plug-in for AR. I followed the directions from Firefox to go to AR Preferences > Internet. Things have changed in the latest version, so I unchecked all 3 boxes there. My files are still opening in Firefox. The whole thing is somewhat broken now, and I don't want to reinstall Firefox.

Okay, after doing some searching on the Web I finally figured out how to disable the Reader Firefox add-in. I did so, but I still have the same problem with AR freezing when looking at About Reader. But I tested your file again to try a search. Still no dice. AR finds nothing in the file. I still have to wonder if AR is not totally compatible with my version of MS Windows.

Update - Problem solved: I uninstalled AR XI and installed AR X. Now the problem with AR freezing has been eliminated. Furthermore, I can now do a search on the file you sent me and my own version of the file.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hi GaryC,

Seems like there was something weird happening with the AR XI installation you had before. Glad to hear that all is resolved with going back to version X.

Cheers,
Stefan

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi Gary,

since you asked, I'm running Win 8 x64 but also run Win 7 x64 Virtual Machines with Adobe IX and haven't seen the issues you have. I think it must be system specific. I'd talk to Adobe - if you can...

[GaryC]

I posted some of this on Adobe's forum this morning. So far no replies.

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

[GaryC]

I have no idea what your last post means. I posted my question on the Adobe forum completely independently without any reference to this forum. No files were uploaded anywhere.

Or are you referring to the jpg file I tried to upload early? If so I will keep that in mind, but why did the pdf file upload correctly?

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi Gary,

looks like I hit the wrong emoticon! Sorry I thought I was sending a 'wry grin' as in "I'm not sure what to expect from Adobe". Nothing to be concerned about at my end.

[GaryC]

I have had a number of issues that have run concurrently. I am updating them on the relevant Subject posts.

The issue with AR freezing when opening Help > About Adobe X (or XI) may have been due to the fact that did not realize that you have to click the text box near the top to close it. There is no indication anywhere that you have to click near the top, so it is possible I was clicking too low. I don't know for sure if that was the issue previously, but recently it was. There is no "x" box to click either, so AR is more like a game of hide-and-go-seek than a user friendly piece of software--unless that is some sort of bug in the program.

[GaryC]

When I finally realized that Adobe Reader X or XI was not an issue I decided to reinstall AR XI. I had the same problem as mcjtom under the Post subject: "Searching OCRed text in Adobe Reader," i.e. when taking an image file and OCRing in XChange Viewer the file could not be Ctrl-F'd in AR. The problem, I thought, was solved when I installed AR X, but in fact the problem is due to installing XChange Viewer, or maybe another part of the installation, after AR is installed, no matter the version.

With that understanding I reinstalled AR XI. Now I can Ctrl-F and Search files in AR that are created in PDF-XChange Viewer.

But there is still an issue. XChange Viewer has two options for doing OCR. #1 is Preserve original Content & Add Text layer, #2 is Convert page content to Image only - Add text.

#2 Does not create any problems with Ctrl-F in AR, however, #1 doesn't work properly in AR. AR acts as if it has found the word you are searching for, but it highlights only incorrect words.

The bottom line from all of this is that XChange Viewer OCR has major compatibility issues with AR, especially when you install it after AR has been installed. I am running Windows 7, X-64. I am also doubtful that you can test your program with Windows 7 on a Windows 8 computer via a Virtual Machine. Virtual reality is to reality as a Virtual Machine is to a computer running only one version of Windows. If you dual boot to a separate operation system I would give it much more credence.

Note too that the original content is from your program and is an image file before OCR, so how would #1 and #2 differ from one another?

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi Gary,

there should not be any differences in the way the 2 methods are compatible with Adobe Reader - or any other PDF Specification compliant reader/viewer. To take this a little further we would need the original PDF (pre OCR) and 2 results, using both methods.

I am also doubtful that you can test your program with Windows 7 on a Windows 8 computer via a Virtual Machine. Virtual reality is to reality as a Virtual Machine is to a computer running only one version of Windows. If you dual boot to a separate operation system I would give it much more credence.

I'm not entirely sure I would agree with your assessment of how Virtual Machines work, it should to all intents and purposes provide a clean Win 7 environment.

Having said that we do have Win 7 x64 machines available and if you want we could test using this. What flavout of Win 7 x64 are you running? Home? Professional? Ultimate? Enterprise etc?

[GaryC]

I am using Professional.

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Thanks Gary,

I'll see if I can get one of the fellows in the Canadian office to do this on a bare metal machine. Can you send us the PDF files as they are before OCR and the 2 samples post OCR also please?

regards

[GaryC]

I decided to try to repeat what I did before to see if I still have the same problem. I took a jpg file and converted it to PDF using PDF Tools 4.0. I then took that and OCR'd it in PDF-XChange Viewer using the two methods. This time both files were searchable in PDF-XChange Viewer, but neither one is searchable in AR. I then took a PDF file I created in VueScan, a program that talks to my old scanner. I created that by scanning directly to a PDF file. That file I then OCR'd in PDF-Xchange Viewer. I had no problems reading that file in AR or in PDF-XChange Viewer.

Conversion 1 is Preserve Original Content...

Conversion 2 was the other but was too large to upload.

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Thanks Gary,

it seems maybe this is specific to the way PDF-Tools is creating the document. Can I ask you to try the exact same thing but rather than using PDF-Tools to convert the image to PDF use the Viewer : File --> New Document --> From Image file?

I'm keen to see if you get the same result.

regards

[GaryC]

I followed your directions and did the two different conversions via New Document. The resultant files were searchable in AR. No problem. So it's how you create the PDF file from image that seems to be the problem. Let us know what you find out.

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Will do.

Thanks Gary