There are many ways to extract text from a PDF file for use in other documents. Choose carefully; not all PDF viewers are alike!
Here we provide a quick review of how the leading free PDF viewers get the job done.
To select text that spans columns
PDF files sometimes seem REALLY stupid because a PDF file has no concept of a “column”. If the file is tagged, a tags-aware viewer is all set. If the file isn’t tagged, it’s up to the software to attempt to “find” the columns. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.
- Open a PDF file with at least two columns of text.
- Place your mouse (or cursor insertion point) at the end (or beginning) of the text you want to copy on one column.
- Swipe the mouse (or use the arrow-keys) to select text from both columns. The highlight that shows your selection progress will indicate whether your Reader is selecting text in correct order. For a final check, copy and paste the resulting text into a text-editor, and see whether it makes any sense.
Adobe Reader: Pass
Apple Preview: Pass
Foxit Reader: Fail (selects text as zoned by the mouse, no awareness of columns)
gDoc Fusion: Fail (selects text as zoned by the mouse, no awareness of columns)
Google Viewer: Fail (selects text as zoned by the mouse, no awareness of columns)
Nitro PDF Reader: Pass
Nuance PDF Reader: Pass
PDF X-Change Viewer: Pass
To select all the text on a single page
PDF files may be displayed in a number of different ways to suit a variety of reading experiences. One of these choices is whether to display a single page at a time or to present a continuous stream of pages. The Page Display mode matters when you go to select text, and knowing how it works can save you some time.
- Place the viewer in Single Page mode.
- Control-A (or Command-A on the Mac)
- Control-C to copy (or Command-C on the Mac)
Adobe Reader: Pass
Apple Preview: Pass
Foxit Reader: ~ (Selects all text in the document)
gDoc Fusion: ~ (Selects all text in the document)
Google Viewer: ~ (No way to select all text on the page except via a mouse-swipe)
Nitro PDF Reader: Pass
Nuance PDF Reader: Pass
PDF X-Change Viewer: ~ (Selects all text in the document)
To select all the text in the PDF
- Place the viewer in any mode other than Single Page.
- Control-A (or Command-A on the Mac)
- Control-C to copy (or Command-C on the Mac)
Adobe Reader: Pass
Apple Preview: Pass
Foxit Reader: Pass
gDoc Fusion: Pass
Google Viewer: Fail (allows text-selection only from currently-visible content)
Nitro PDF Reader: Fail (Selects content from only one page at a time)
Nuance PDF Reader: Pass
PDF X-Change Viewer: Pass
To select text that spans two or more pages
- Place the viewer in Two-Up mode.
- Place your mouse (or cursor insertion point) at the end (or beginning) of the text you want to copy.
- Swipe the mouse (or use the arrow-keys) to select the text in your document. The highlight that shows your selection progress will follow across the page boundary.
- Control-C to copy (or Command-C on the Mac)
Adobe Reader: Pass
Apple Preview: Pass
Foxit Reader: Fail (cannot select text across pages)
gDoc Fusion: Pass (has no Two-Up mode, but works in Continuous Mode)
Google Viewer: Pass
Nitro PDF Reader: Fail (Selects content from only one page at a time)
Nuance PDF Reader: Pass
PDF X-Change Viewer: Pass
For this review we tested Adobe’s Reader, Apple’s Preview, Foxit’s Reader, Global Graphic’s gDoc Fusion, Google’s Viewer, Nitro’s Reader, Nuance’s Reader and Tracker’s PDF X-Change Viewer. For more comparisons of PDF viewing software, see 5 Readers Compared.