The Portable Document Format (PDF) is a great way to share documents while preserving formatting, layout, and even security. But sometimes you need to copy some text from a PDF, and leave all of the document’s images and formatting behind. This can be particularly challenging when the text you want is split and divided by images.
So how do you copy just the text from a PDF, while ignoring the images and formatting? Well, the Mac’s TextEdit app is here to help!
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Google Drive works really well if you have a simple PDF text document that you need to edit in Word. However, if your PDF file is image-heavy, you’re going to need a more powerful PDF to Word converter for Mac. How to convert PDF to Word using Adobe Acrobat Pro. Adobe Acrobat Pro is another complete solution to create and edit PDFs.
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Step 1: Open the PDF File
The first step is to open your PDF file. The default application for viewing PDFs in macOS is the Preview app, and that’s what you’ll see in the following screenshots. If you have a third party PDF application, such as Adobe Acrobat, the steps are similar.
- How to convert a PDF to Word online. Follow these easy steps to turn a PDF into a Microsoft Word document: Click the Select a file button above, or drag and drop a PDF into the drop zone. Select the PDF you want to convert to the DOCX file format. Watch Acrobat automatically convert the file. Download the converted Word doc or sign in to share it.
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Step 2: Select Everything in the PDF
Normally when you need to select text from a PDF that has a lot of images and formatting, you’d probably use your mouse or trackpad cursor to select each block of text, copy it out to the clipboard, and then paste it into your desired application. And if you need just a little bit of text, this method is fine. But if you need multiple pages of text, this can take forever. The answer is to just select it all, and we’ll show you how to deal with the images and formatting next.
So, select all of the content in your PDF by heading to Edit > Select All or by using the keyboard shortcut Command-A.
Once you do so, you’ll see the entire contents of your document selected.
Step 3: Copy and Paste the PDF Contents
With the contents of your PDF selected, head to Edit > Copy in the menu bar or use the keyboard shortcut Command-C. Next, find and launch the TextEdit app, which is located by default in your Applications folder. You can also search for it via Spotlight.
Depending on your TextEdit settings, you may need to create a new document when launching the app. Click the New Document button in the lower-left corner of the window to do so.
By default, your new TextEdit document will open in Rich Text mode. You’ll need to change it to Plain Text Mode, as this is the secret that lets us paste the entire PDF but only see the text. To switch to Plain Text Mode, select Format > Make Plain Text, or use the keyboard shortcut Shift-Command-T.
If you see Make Rich Text in this window on your own Mac, then that means your TextEdit document is already in Plain Text Mode.
Finally, copy the contents of your PDF by selecting Edit > Paste from the menu bar or using the keyboard shortcut Command-V. Because we’re in Plain Text Mode, you’ll see just the text from your PDF, and not any of the images or formatting.
Your text may still need to be cleaned up a bit in terms of spacing, but it should be much easier to deal with in whatever application it’s destined for.
Bonus: Force All TextEdit Documents to Open in Plain Text Mode
If you’ll be doing this PDF copy-paste routine often, you can set TextEdit to open in Plain Text Mode by default, which can save you a little bit of time. To do so, select TextEdit > Preferences from the menu bar.
From the Preferences window, select the New Document tab and choose Plain Text under the “Format” section.
As mentioned, this can save you some time, but you can always switch individual TextEdit documents back to Rich Text Mode by using the method described earlier. So you’re not stuck with one or the other, but just be aware that if you switch a Rich Text document to Plain Text and then switch back to Rich Text, you will have lost all formatting in the process.
• Filed to: Mac Tutorials
'Is there a reliable PDF reader for Mac (macOS 10.15 Catalina)?'
Mac users have a number of PDF reader programs to choose from, including Adobe Reader for Mac and Preview. But if you want a better PDF reading experience, you might want to use a more robust and powerful PDF program. In this article, we’ve compiled the top 5 PDF reader for Mac tools, including PDFelement Pro, which offers more features than a simple PDF reader.
Part 1: Top 5 Best PDF Reader for Mac
1. PDFelement Pro - The Best Alternative Free PDF Reader Pro for Mac to Adobe Acrobat.
As high-quality as Adobe Reader is due to its constant updates and improvements, you can also look into alternative programs to perform many of the same tasks. PDFelement Pro for Mac, as the best alternative PDF Reader to Adobe Acrobat for Mac, acts as both a PDF editor and reader that provides you full functions for PDF editing and a better experience reading PDF on Mac. This tool lets you add text, images, bookmarks, and more to your PDF. In addition, a user can also highlight text, underline, use strike-through features on the text, and crop PDF pages on Mac. Watermarks can also be used to protect your PDF files on Mac. You can even edit and convert scanned PDF files with PDFelement Pro.
Key Features of this PDF Reader for Mac:
- Add, delete or edit text, images, graphics, links, watermarks, and more.
- Convert PDF to Word and other formats, or create PDFs from Webpages, images, and text files.
- Quickly mark up and annotate PDFs with various annotation tools.
- Combine or split PDFs, organize pages, and easily fill out PDF forms.
- Edit and convert scanned or image-based PDFs using the OCR feature.
- Easily add watermarks, passwords, and signatures to PDF documents.
2. Skim - A Popular and Well-developed MacBook PDF reader
Skim is a popular PDF Reader on Mac that is tailored towards scientific purposes, although it can also be used to view other types of documents as well. This free PDF reader software is designed to be customizable for individual use and is handy for notes and previews. Skim is one of the most popular options because it includes easy-to-use and visually impressive reading modes.
Key Features:
- Single swipe highlight mode for easy use
- AppleScript support
- Ability to preview internal links
3. Adobe Reader for Mac - A Widely Used Free Mac os PDF reader
Adobe Reader for Mac is considered the industry standard. You can download a PDF reader for mac-Adobe Reader for free and set it as your default PDF reader. Adobe is still a very well-respected product on the market, as they are constantly making improvements and upgrades to the program. Still, there are other options that offer many of the same features at a lower price and without complicated licensing agreements.
Key Features:
- Fast and easy to use
- Established platform worldwide
- Considered industry standard
- Well developed and supported
4. Haihaisoft Reader for Mac - A Small Size Free PDF Reader for macOS
A prominent feature of Haihaisoft Reader for Mac is its small size at only 3MB; this compact PDF Reader for Mac takes up much less space than other programs like Adobe Reader (see below). The package covers a wide range of languages and is designed for ease of use, while it is also well supported and has been developed for use on a number of platforms. Interesting features include:
Key Features:
- Instant launch time
- No background net connection for added security
- Opens all PDF documents
- Protection with DRM-X
5. PDFSam - A New Free PDF Reader for Macbook Pro or other Macs
PDFSam is a relatively new release that has been met with mixed reviews. This free PDF reader for Mac is designed for splitting and merging documents. Hence, it is called 'SAM.', Some users report problems while using the application, though generally, it is reported to be user-friendly and quick for the average user.
Key Features:
- Split and Merge - (SAM)
- Extract sections as separate PDFs
- Reorder pages when needed
- Compose documents by dragging and dropping
Part 2: Troubleshooting on Opening and Reading PDFs in macOS
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Many people experience problems when trying to open or read PDFs on Mac. This is due to a variety of reasons, but luckily this problem is usually quite an easy one to solve in just a matter of minutes. Here are the three main reasons why you may have a problem reading a PDF on Mac and what you can do to solve the problem.
Question 1. Your Web Browser needs Updating
Solution: This is one of the most common problems that can prevent you from being able to read a PDF. Not all browsers update automatically, and it could be that yours needs a manual update. You can usually run a regular software update, but other times you may be required to update manually through the menu. An outdated browser may be the issue, in which case you may need to update your browser to resolve the issue. You can then make annotations and markups within your document.
Question 2. Your Browser is not Compatible
Solution: This issue depends on your operating system. If you are running OS 10.5 x, as many are, you will find that the later versions of Safari, for example, are non-compatible with your operating system. This will lead to you being unable to open PDFs and a number of other problems. It is recommended that users with this operating system try using Firefox instead to solve the problem.
Question 3. Check the Adobe Reader Plug-in
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Solution: This problem also affects many users. If you are opening your PDF with Adobe Reader, the Adobe Reader Plug-in can be problematic, especially if it is an automatic launch when you enter your browser. The trick is to delete the plug-in (just the plug-in, not Adobe Reader itself). Try using Adobe Reader as a stand-alone program rather than having it run within your browser, and the problem should be solved. You can also re-install the plug-in if necessary.
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Part 3: Best Recommendation
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With so many options of PDF reader for Mac, sometimes it is hard to make a choice. But taking all the possible troubles into consideration, PDFelement can be regarded as the best PDF reader for Mac because it can provide you with a cozy reading experience without those troubles. Besides, do you think PDFelement is only a PDF reader? The answer is no; it is a PDF editor and PDF converter as well
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