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Suddenly I am not able to select and copy any text from any PDF document, whether from a PDF I have created that contains renderable text, or from a scan that I have used text recognition on. All I get is a hand symbol. None of the documents are protected. It worked a few days ago! I use Windows 10, have Adobe Acrobat Standard 2015.
Scan documents and OCR Community guidelinesBe kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
Activate the select tool and select the text.
10 Replies 10 Community Expert , /t5/acrobat-discussions/can-t-select-or-copy-text/m-p/10413292#M137801 Mar 21, 2019 Mar 21, 2019Copy link to clipboard
Activate the select tool and select the text.
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/t5/acrobat-discussions/can-t-select-or-copy-text/m-p/13383424#M388897 Nov 30, 2022 Nov 30, 2022Copy link to clipboard
Unfortunately, this does not work. When I click on the select tool and want to select text, it makes a shape (blue rectangle) over the text, but it is not the same as when you select text anywhere else, normally. The "select tool" pictogram also shows a little rectangle next to the "arrow" (bottom right). So ti looks like this, but then nothing happens.:
1 1 Upvote Community guidelinesBe kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
Community Expert , /t5/acrobat-discussions/can-t-select-or-copy-text/m-p/13383558#M388904 Nov 30, 2022 Nov 30, 2022Copy link to clipboard
This looks like a image without selectable text.
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Community Beginner , /t5/acrobat-discussions/can-t-select-or-copy-text/m-p/13573499#M398942 Feb 12, 2023 Feb 12, 2023Copy link to clipboard
Funny isn't it. Adobe Acrobat Pro - the most expensive and supposedly advanced PDF product can't see this is text when the free MACOS Preview can, even if that text is actually an image. Time to catch up Adobe!
And while you are at it, allow capture of text without selecting unrelated text in an adjoining area.
Lastly, how about some useful actions for capturing and extracting text in PDF invoices etc and allowing this to be passed to some other system.
2 2 Upvotes Community guidelinesBe kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
/t5/acrobat-discussions/can-t-select-or-copy-text/m-p/13605860#M400862 Feb 24, 2023 Feb 24, 2023Copy link to clipboard
If you read OP's post, they claim the OCR'd the document so techinically, it should be able to select text. I have a user that also has this problem with selecting text from a PDF that we convert from a MS Word doc to PDF. It wont allow him to select text while using the mouse, but if we completely close out of Adobe, and reopen the PDF, it starts working again. It only affects the ability to use the mouse to highlight and select text. If you use CTRL+A it works no issues, but it you try using the mouse cursor it doesnt work.
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Community Beginner , /t5/acrobat-discussions/can-t-select-or-copy-text/m-p/13610556#M401088 Feb 27, 2023 Feb 27, 2023Copy link to clipboard
Yes, the OP's post did say that but I was making commentary (adding to the discussion) on the lack of functionality in this area with Adobe Acrobat as these forums are really the only way to vent when there is an issue. Adobe's OCR seems quite good at finding words but if the words are part of an image it isn't good at all and whilst Ctrl-A will get everything that was found (excluding any text in part of the document it thinks is an image) but with anything other than a plain text, single column document, it will be in a garbled order, unusable without significant further effort. Other tools seem to be much better here than Acrobat, which is a shame considering the premium charged for it.