How can I enter a visible backslash symbol? SOLVED

[klei]

Hello,

I have a PDF file which was exported from a Word document about 20 years ago. The PDF document does not show any backslash "\" characters. I do not have the original Word document anymore and would like to correct the PDF. What I tried so far:
- double backslash for escaping the control character
- use ALT+92 to insert the symbol
- copy & paste a visible backslash symbol from another PDF file that shows it from within PDF-XChange Editor.

I am using latest Editor-Plus, application does not find available updates.

Please help, thanks.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello klei,

Welcome to our forums.
So if I understood you correctly - there are no backslashes visible at all in the file and you need to add those as additional content?

Please take a look at this KB article which shows you how you can edit content using our Editor:
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowledgeba ... -documents

And if you are still having issues - can we please have a sample page and some screenshots indicating what the desired final result is?
(If adding images - please .zip them first as the forums will only accept .pdf and .zip files as attachments).

With an Editor Plus license you should also be able to export the PDF to Word and make some edits to the .docx file as well if desired.

Kind regards,
Stefan

[klei]

support.zip

images and minimal pdf file

(336.98 KiB) Downloaded 31 times

I have added a stripped down minimal example.

single_page_stripped_down.pdf : the file for reference which does not show existing backslash characters and I was not able to add any new ones either.

symbol_present.jpg : image that shows that the editor's built in text search function finds the backslash characters in the pdf file, but shows them as empty space.

symbol_visible_printed_version.jpg : this is part of a picture that I scanned from a printed version of the document from ~20 years back. The original document had visible backslash characters, but the digital PDF version did not / does not show them.

Thanks for your support.

[Willy Van Nuffel]

It seems like there is a problem with the embedded "TripleLight"-font (fonts-overview via File > Document Properties > Fonts).
Confirmed by opening the PDF in Ad*be Acr*bat Reader.

When you go into "Edit Text"-mode (icon in the Home-ribbon), you can select the blank backslash and change the font to (for example) Arial (via the Format-ribbon). The backslash-character will become visible.
EDIT: Changing the blank backslash-character (from Regular) to Bold and back (to Regular), also seems to cure the problem.

You can also think about replacing all "TripleLight"-font by some other font by using the "Replace Fonts"-option in the Convert-ribbon.
More info about that in the on-line manual : https://help.pdf-xchange.com/pdfxe10/re ... ts_ed.html

Kind regards.

[klei]

Thanks a lot, this helped!

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello klei,

Thanks for the sample files! So your symbols are inside the file, and are showing in e.g. the contents pane:

However the font used in your document (TriplexLight) while fully embedded:

Is a Type1 font (quite old), and it seems like it has not been embedded properly and as such some of the symbols like your back slashes are not rendered correctly. I tested your file in other PDF products, and they just like us do not display those back slashes.

If you change that font to another one (I do not have an appropriate font that looks exactly the same) - those backslashes would start appearing:

We also do have a "Replace Fonts..." feature

But I could not make it work with that Type1 font that is currently used for your text.

p.s. Willy did 'beat me to it'!

Kind regards,
Stefan

[Willy Van Nuffel]

I hope you also saw the EDIT in my previous post.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello Willy Van Nuffel,

I did see that. Likely there's something odd with the embedded font. As klei said - the original file was produced 20+ years ago.

In any case - I hope that your advise and my screenshots would help @klei with their task!

Kind regards,
Stefan