I'm trying to copy parts of a PDF to make some footnotes in a separate document... but the format doesn't copy, so is it possible to copy a highlighted part as a picture like a jpeg for me to copy paste? What software can I use to do this? Preferably free linux software, but I'm open to other options.
I have a lot to do, so an easy way way would be great... I could probably take screenshots of the pdf, but that seems like a lot of work since I have so many parts to do.
Thanks
67 Answers
Can you not copy from any PDF document, or just not from this PDF document? The mouse pointer needs to be configured as a Select Tool and not as the Hand Tool for coping to work. You can change this configuration through the Tools -> Select & Zoom menu or by right-clicking anywhere in the document. You can also make the Hand Tool behave as the Select Tool when you move over text by opening Edit -> Preferences -> General and checking the box in front of "Make Hand tool select text & images".
Adobe Reader and Acrobat Pro have the Snapshot tool to do this. You can find it on the Select and Zoom toolbar. Its icon is a camera surrounded by a selection marquee. You may have to enable it - it wasn't enabled by default on my install of Acrobat Pro.
Whatever software you choose will need you to 'highight' in the PDF parts that you want to be cropped into JPG pictures. If you take a screenshoot limited to the PDF window, it will not add much to your necessary effort (of choosing the area of interest).
There are a few specific apps that will allow you to pick a rectangle of interest,
1Desktop Data Manager is a Clipboard Manager for GNOME similar to Klipper for KDE. With DDM it is possible to display different types of content like text or images.
DDM includes a screenshot taking application which is able to take screenshots from a single window/subwindow, rectangle of the screen or the whole desktop.
If I wanted to do this, I'd use the GIMP. It's a very feature rich, free and open source, image manipulation program, but it imports PDFs (albeit as raster graphics, but I doubt you want anything else), and you can use it as your PDF reader if you want. I'm sure there is specialized screenshot software that can do this too, but it's hard to recommend any without knowing your OS.
If you are a Windows user, then consider using Foxit Reader. It is much lighter than the regular Adobe Reader and it's history of exploits is less consequent. There also a snapshot button to do exactly what you're asking for.
In cases I can not copy pdf because it is protected or something, I just snahpshot it and use GT Text It is pretty fast.
1you can actually do it online here is one and this is another. The last one allows for bigger files (over 1mb) while the other doesn't.
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