Processing PDF: How to Go from PDF to E-text to Audio

Processing PDF:Processing PDF:How to Go from PDF toHow to Go from PDF toE-text to AudioE-text to Audio

Gaeir DietrichDirectorHigh Tech Center Training Unitof the California Community CollegesFoothill Community College District

PDF from PublishersPDF from Publishers

Portable document format (PDF) Reads the same on any computer Looks like the book Smaller than TIFFs Contains all the text

Always check to make sure the book is the right one!

Easy for publishers

Requesting through ATNRequesting through ATN

Access Text Network Now free for requesting files from ATN-

member publishers Paid membership to exchange files www.accesstext.org

Not all publishers But ATN does have the largest ones

Other Resources at ATNOther Resources at ATN

Accessible Textbook Finder http://www.accesstext.org/atf.php

Link to Publisher Lookup http://www.publisherlookup.org/ Will have to contact non-ATN member

publishers directly

Using Publisher PDFsUsing Publisher PDFs

Sometimes students can use files directly

Often files will need further processing for student use

At the very least, large files may need to be broken into chapters

PDF StrengthsPDF Strengths

Good format for large print Cropping Fit to page on large pages Print sections on large pages (tiling)

Adobe Reader has some nice features Change colors Reflow Limited voicing

Works on both Mac and PC Easy for most publishers to create

PDF WeaknessesPDF Weaknesses

Not always fully accessible Screen readers do not always like them—

even when they are text-based Reading order can be problematic

May be graphics (pictures of text) May have too much security

As an Aside…As an Aside…

When faculty create PDFs… The PDF always started as something

else…usually a Word file Try to get the starting document if the

student prefers audio Security concerns?

Word files can be password protected Button > Prepare > Encrypt

Types of PDF DocumentsTypes of PDF Documents

Text-based Text can be selected

Graphical Picture of text (i.e., a graphic) Text cannot be selected

Use text-select tool to tell the difference Files may be “locked”

Processing PDFsProcessing PDFs

Adobe Acrobat Professional Check on College Buys for discount

Good OCR program Abbyy FineReader Nuance OmniPage

IF you are a Kurzweil campus, you will also need Kurzweil

Adobe ToolsAdobe Tools

Adobe Reader Free Useful for students who need minimal

accessibility features http://www.adobe.com/products/reader/

Adobe Acrobat Professional Essential for alt media specialists Extract text, create accessible PDFs, enabled

Adobe Reader features www.uscollegebuy.com Discounted Price

Acrobat ReaderAcrobat Reader

Reads aloud But does not highlight or track

Enlarges text Nice reflow feature

Changes text/background colors Text highlighting, sticky notes, and

comments Access for text-based PDFs

Production Features in Reader

Really designed for reading, not reformatting

Export PDF Subscription service (about $20/year) Upload PDF file, service auto-converts to

Word, download

Process with Acrobat ProProcess with Acrobat Pro

Cropping Enlargement for printing Tiling Extracting/deleting pages Combining/inserting pages Text extraction

Works best with text-based PDF Does have built-in OCR capability

Customize Quick Tools

Click on the “gear”

View > Show/hide > Toolbar Items > Quick Tools

Quick Tools Menu

Customize

Please Note

To enable single-key shortcuts Open Preferences dialog box Ctrl + K Under General > select Use Single-Key

Accelerators To Access Tools (first checkbox under Basic Tools)

Cropping

Tools > Pages > Crop

Shortcut: C (Please note: This shortcut brings up the

mouse-driven cropping tool—must double click to open the dialog box!)

Crop Tool

Crop Toolbox

Enlarging

Choose paper size/printer File > Print > Size…to Fit

Shortcut: Ctrl + P (tab through)

Tip: Crop document before enlarging

Print to Fit

Tiling

Choose paper size/printer File > Print > Poster > Tile Scale and

Overlap

Shortcut: Ctrl + P (tab through)

Tip: Crop document before tiling

Enlarge with Tiling

Extracting Pages

Tools > Pages > Extract

Delete Shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + D Extract Pages Shortcut: Alt V + T + P

(opens Pages pane; F6 focuses in pane and can arrow down)

Extraction Tool

Tips for Extracting Chapters

Crop on complete file before extracting Work on a copy!!!!! Extract from end toward front! Use table of contents to help Place focus on first page of chapter to

extract (beginning with last)

Starting from the Back

Combining

File > Pages > Insert

OR

Create > Combine files

Inserting Pages

Combining Pages

Auto Extracting Text

File > Save As > MS Word Retains styles and paragraphs

File > Save As > More options… Text (Accessible)

Lose styles, places hard returns at end of line Text (Plain)

Lose styles, keeps paragraphs

Shortcut: Alt F + A

Save As Options

Better Text Extraction

OCR programs analyze text and structure Acrobat Pro has built-in OCR, but other

programs provide more control Can control which text to include

More Control over Text

For graphical PDFs Or To maintain more control over extracting

text from text-based PDFs Use an OCR program!

Processing Graphical PDFsProcessing Graphical PDFs

Must run optical character recognition (OCR) Computers cannot read pictures OCR programs recognize the “characters” in the

picture

How you process the file depends on the end format the student wants!

Want to Stay in PDF?

Sometimes students do want a text-based PDF

Can OCR in Adobe Pro Tools> Recognize Text

Under Tools

Want Text OutWant Text Out

OmniPage or FineReader FineReader generally easier to learn Save to Word or HTML or Text based on student

preference

Use virtual printer with Kurzweil Create KESI files

R&W Save as Word

Which One When?Which One When?

Want a Word file? Best choice is OmniPage or FineReader

Want a Kurzweil document? Use Kurzweil to process the PDF

For students to do themselves? Whichever program they prefer

Why?Why?

OCR programs are designed to make extraction and editing easy

Document readers (R&W, Kurzweil, etc.) are designed to make reading easy…NOT editing.

NEVER!!!NEVER!!!

Do NOT run OCR with FineReader or OmniPage…save to PDF…and then take into Kurzweil, R&W, etc.

Kurzweil, R&W, WYNN will run their own OCR on the PDF! Wastes time, adds error to do OCR twice

OCR ProgramsOCR Programs

Treat PDFs the same as a TIFF If you OCR scanned documents, use the

same process

Load image file Select zones Create templates as needed

OCR Process Details

Crop before loading into OCR engine Turn on multiple languages as needed

If doing math, turn on Greek Only turn on the languages you need

Edit in the OCR program Some OCR programs have font matching features

Save to Word

Captions and Such

For students who want audio or who are using screen readers Separate the main body of the text and the

“ancillary text” (captions, sidebars, footnotes)

Create two documents 00 Chapter and 00A Chapter

Allows the student to hear main text uninterrupted

Two Doc Workflow

Open PDF in OCR Program Analyze layout for entire document

Save a copy On one copy…delete all ancillary text

Save to Word as 00 Chapter On other copy…delete all main body text

Save as 00A Chapter Keep page numbers in both documents!

Once in Word

Learn to use “show hidden” Ctrl + Shift + 8

Beware of the optional hyphen Search and replace to delete Search for ^- replace with nothing Run spell check

Use styles to structure files for braille program

Converting Files

Mobile Readers?

Check formats that device can handle Some handle PDF and DOC, some do not

All readers handle TXT Also called text, ASCII Can save from Word as plain text

Magic Conversion Tool

Calibre Converts to and from many formats Fairly intuitive Free!

http://calibre-ebook.com/

Another Conversion Tool

TechAdapt http://www.techadapt.com/

TechAdapt Accessible Media Center (TAMC) For converting NIMAS and DAISY

DAISY to… RTF HTML

File Transfer

Can use DropBox or Box to transfer files for most readers

Kindle and iPad can often use e-mail

Resource InfoResource Info

Gaeir Dietrich gdietrich@htctu.net 408-996-6047

www.htctu.net Alt media listserv Manuals online