Re: OT: edit "uneditable" PDF file

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from J R FOX  on Thu, 22 Dec 2005
22:14:37 -0800 (PST)


> PDFs are supposed to be locked down, such that
> they can't be edited.

Not true. Not unless the creator locked it.

> I take it then that you
> probably can't print one to a file, do some *very*
> minor editing on it with Xy or a Hex editor (in this
> case, change a couple of dates mentioned in the text),
> and then print out the edited version ?

Of course you can, as long as it's a text-based PDF. You just extract the text:
 PDF2Xy d:\path\filename.PDF
But unless the directory of GSWIN32C.EXE is in the DOS Path, you must manually
situate (in Xy) in that GS directory before executing this frame. I fixed this
the other day, it will be in v120 (the frame CDs to that dir, then on exit CDs
back wherever you came from).
 Xy2PDF puts it back into a PDF.

Acrobat's main useful function is *editing PDFs* on-the-fly! I do it a lot.
The Acrobat method preserves the formatting, if there is any to speak of. With
Xy2PDF, you gotta reformat it, using XyWrite formats, because what is extracted
from the PDF is plain text. If you know PostScript, use GS's "ps2txt" routine,
whcih also preserves the formatting -- even the graphics, probably. If your
editing is just a few numbers, it should be a piece of cake.

-----------------------------
Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
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