PDF Editor Thread poster: swiss solutions
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If I understood your message correctly, you already have OCR software, though you didn't specify which. The conversion quality issues are very often dependent on how you use the software; most of the people I have seen use it, do so in a way that is not at all conducive to high-quality translation work, especially with CAT tools.
There is no "PDF editing software" to recommend for the situation you describe. Learn how to do OCR correctly, or if your OCR software is not very good, ge... See more If I understood your message correctly, you already have OCR software, though you didn't specify which. The conversion quality issues are very often dependent on how you use the software; most of the people I have seen use it, do so in a way that is not at all conducive to high-quality translation work, especially with CAT tools.
There is no "PDF editing software" to recommend for the situation you describe. Learn how to do OCR correctly, or if your OCR software is not very good, get better software and learn to use it. Take a look at the "How To" tab on my profile, and you'll find some old instructions for post-OCR workflow (using Abbyy FineReader as an example) that will help you improve the quality of your results. To this I would add getting hold of Dave Turner's "CodeZapper" macro collection to clean up the resultant RTF/Word files and eliminate superfluous codes/tags better. (These macros can be found in the download area of the dejavu-l list on Yahoogroups and elsewhere - they are just as useful for TagEditor users as for DVX users.) ▲ Collapse
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I agree that there's no "PDF software" to recommend here. As for the good OCR solution, it's either Abbyy FineReader or Nuance OmniPage, nothing else comes near I think.
| | | | | OCR manually !!! | Jan 16, 2009 |
Never delegate tasks to "automatic modes" if you are interested in the results. The process is:
1) FineReader + manual segmentation,
2) formatting of the source in Word before translation,
3) CAT,
4) formatting after translation,
5) export to PDF (use DoPDF: i) free and ii) better rendering of images, though iii) bigger files).
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It saved my life, as most of the translations I get are .pdf.
| | | | Marina Aleyeva 
Israel
Local time: 12:10
Member (2006)
English to Russian
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| Solid Converter - more or less ok | Jan 17, 2009 |
I assume from your post that you are looking for a better PDF to Word solution than what you have had. Solid Converter is ok for less sophisticated tasks. Unlike many other tools including paid ones, it can tell lines from paragraphs and headers/footers from the rest of the document. It will also recognize formatting and graphics. However, the quality of what you eventually get in Word is far from ideal, particularly where the layout is tricky. Quite a lot of manual formatting is still required,... See more I assume from your post that you are looking for a better PDF to Word solution than what you have had. Solid Converter is ok for less sophisticated tasks. Unlike many other tools including paid ones, it can tell lines from paragraphs and headers/footers from the rest of the document. It will also recognize formatting and graphics. However, the quality of what you eventually get in Word is far from ideal, particularly where the layout is tricky. Quite a lot of manual formatting is still required, and complicated tables turn into a mess. ▲ Collapse
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Kevin Lossner wrote:
There is no "PDF editing software" to recommend for the situation you describe. Learn how to do OCR correctly, or if your OCR software is not very good, get better software and learn to use it.
Actually there is PDF editing software, InFix, from http://www.iceni.com , but it only works with PDF files generated from applications, aka "distilled". For scanned PDFs, OCR is the only way out.
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José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote: Actually there is PDF editing software, InFix, from http://www.iceni.com , but it only works with PDF files generated from applications, aka "distilled". For scanned PDFs, OCR is the only way out.
Here are the product claims:
Faster PDF Translation
Use Infix to provide faster translations for your clients. Copy phrases and paragraphs direct from the PDF, translate them using your favourite system then paste them directly into the PDF. Take care of any formatting issues such as overrunning text there and then.
* Translate the text within the PDF directly
* Make text formatting changes as you translate the text
* Ensure original layout of brochures, catalogues is maintained 100%
* Avoid conversions to intermediate formats
* Open two copies of the same document side by side
Though interesting, the software is useless for most translation purposes. The only real use I can see for it is minor touch-up of a PDF headed for print and extremely simple translation jobs of simple text blocks without CAT tools.
In multi-column layouts the text blocks are not linked. In my tests copying and pasting between InFix and MS Word, formatting features like spacing between paragraphs were lost. The idea of trying to copy a large text back over the original paragraph-for-paragraph and adjust the text blocks for changes in the text length, perhaps move graphic elements (like signatures) to adjust to layout changes, etc. - no thanks. The claim of "faster PDF translation" is a sad joke. Faster than what? I could see using this tool to do a simple one-page flyer quickly, but for anything else, the additional trouble is simple not worth it.
There really is no substitute for a good OCR program. As I have pointed out before (in discussions, articles, etc.), one can make OCR services part of one's business and earn good money. The first year I started doing this I added several thousand euros to our income with hourly charges or surcharges to translation line rates and word rates for OCR preparation. That more than pays for the few hundred (or maybe less) for a good OCR program. Even if you don't charge for OCR services, the improvement in efficiency for dealing with PDF files of all kinds is worth the investment.
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Brandis (X)
Local time: 11:10
English to German
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Hi!
This works only on file scans, you do not need a CAT for translation, it is a direct solution, maintains the format. Document or page scans require generally OCR, here I find Abby and IRIS are two competing products. Both are good though, Abby is most widely used in our profession as I observe from various other postings. BR Brandis
| | | | swiss solutions
Romania
Local time: 12:10
Member (2006)
English to Romanian
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TOPIC STARTER | Thank you all for your helpful suggestions | Jan 23, 2009 |
Thank you all for your advice and suggestions. Mr. Lossner, I read your articles related to OCR workflow and found them very helpful.
Thank you all!
Brandis wrote:
Hi!
This works only on file scans, you do not need a CAT for translation, it is a direct solution, maintains the format. Document or page scans require generally OCR, here I find Abby and IRIS are two competing products. Both are good though, Abby is most widely used in our profession as I observe from various other postings. BR Brandis
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