Can't select and mark-up some of the text of a PDF in Preview.app

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Level 1

1 points

Can't select and mark-up some of the text of a PDF in Preview.app

I am trying to highlight some of the text of a PDF with Preview 4.1 but fail to do so.

I downloaded the file from the web and have been able to add highlight to the file then and saved the file with Preview (including highlight). Now I can't even select most of the text of the PDF. For example, I can't select the text that I have previously highlighted. Basically, I can't select any paragraph-type text. However, I can still highlight the titles as well as headers and footers.

It looks like I have all necessary permissions on the file.

Does Preview create files that it can not edit afterwards?!
Any idea on what is going on?

Thanks!

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.6), Preview 4.1

Posted on May 7, 2009 1:10 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 20, 2009 4:27 PM in response to TimInSF

I have the exact same problem. It's as if it saved the pdf text as a picture, and so you can't manipulate it as text and highlight it. That said, I can still select specific text. How odd and frustrating.

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Answer 2

May 7, 2009 7:00 PM in response to TimInSF

HI Tim and Welcome to Apple Discussions ...

Preview is the PDF viewer built into Mac OS X. With Preview, you can view, rotate, resize, crop, and convert a wide range of image files; read and search PDF files; view incoming faxes as PDF files; and take screen shots. Preview is also used in other applications to preview documents before printing.
The Preview app is just a viewer.

To learn more about Preview, open Preview and choose Help > Preview Help.

Go here and check out Nerowolfe's suggestions. http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1985810&tstart=0

Carolyn 🙂

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Answer 3

May 7, 2009 9:57 PM in response to TimInSF

TimInSF,

Interesting, and Forgive me for this, are you using the Text Tool or are you in a different tool? Do a quick Command + 2 on the keyboard and then try again. Also There might be something wrong with a preferences file for preview, try removing the com.apple.preview.plist found in Macintosh HD -> Users -> YOUR USER -> Library -> Preferences. And then if that doesn't work force Preview to reindex the text do a quick search and then clear it.

Hope that helps,
Weston

Message was edited by: westongallagher

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Answer 4

TimInSF Author

Level 1

1 points

May 7, 2009 11:07 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

Hi Carolyn,

thank you for your response, but I didn't really mean "editing". Since Leopard I believe, Preview has some features of annotations and highlighting of PDF documents that you can then save. You can kind of edit documents by moving pages around and merging document too but I agree that it's not exactly editing.

In any case, I wanted to take advantage of the feature of highlighting and what's strange is that it did work with the original document. I overwrote the original when saving and now I can't select the paragraphs, but titles and page numbers are fine. Hum...

Tim

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Answer 5

TimInSF Author

Level 1

1 points

May 8, 2009 7:39 AM in response to westongallagher

Thanks Weston, but it didn't solve it.
However, you're onto something because the text of the paragraph doesn't show up when I do a search. So, does that mean it's not considered as text anymore?
Still though, I added highlight on some of page numbers, saved, closed and opened it again and I can still select titles and page numbers. So, the same thing didn't happen for that style of text.

Tim

PS: I'm using the text tool

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Answer 6

May 14, 2009 5:46 PM in response to TimInSF

I have a similar problem. Though I am viewing a JPEG (not a PDF) in Preview 4.1. I would like to draw a rectangle around an object in the JPEG and I do see under Tools>Annotate there is an option called "Add Rectangle." Except that it is grayed out and won't let me select it. Ditto for all the tools listed under Tools>Mark Up. Do these tools only work with certain types of files (e.g. PDFs) or something?

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Answer 7

aronnyc

Level 1

0 points

Jun 16, 2009 9:03 PM in response to clarkeasaurous

To highlight text, you need to select it, then go to "Mark Up," then go to "Highlight Text," etc. It's a bit different from other programs, like Word, where you choose the Highlight tool before you highlight.

Note: This only works for PDF files that are texts, not JPGs.

Message was edited by: aronnyc

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Answer 8

CrustyMX

Level 1

0 points

Jul 11, 2009 9:31 AM in response to TimInSF

*FYI: You can annotate images in Preview.app.*

http://www.usingmac.com/2008/8/5/10-handy-mac-preview-application-tricks

9. Add Annonations

Can you see tiny bar on the right hand corner of your Preview application pane? Option-Command-Click on it, you will see all available tools for your Preview application there. Drag the Annotate tool to your toolbar and play around with it. You will realize that it's really easy to use.

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Answer 9

May 8, 2009 1:59 PM in response to TimInSF

For more sophisticated PDF software you might want to look at Adobe Acrobat.
www.adobe.com

Carolyn 🙂

Message was edited by: Carolyn Samit

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