You do not have to go very far to find someone who has received a PDF document but would prefer you to receive it in DOC format, especially files that need editing in the text. There are different ways to accomplish this conversion on the Mac, both by external applications and more “manual” ways of doing them. We’ve compiled some of these options to help you find the best – or easiest – way to convert PDF to text on your Mac!
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Convert PDF to Text on Mac with Google Docs
The first method of our tutorial is perfect for those who use Google Docs in their day to day, instead of the tools of Microsoft Office or the applications of the own Mac. This happens because Google Docs has a native tool of conversion of PDF files. For those who do not already have a Google Docs account, you can create one by visiting the official page and registering.
Then choose to Upload and choose the PDF file to convert. After sending the document, open the file in Google Docs and open the File menu. In it, you will find the option Download As, which allows you to download the PDF again, but in several text formats, such as DOCX or ODT, among others. Just choose one of your choices and the conversion will be done.
Convert PDF to Text on Mac Manually
It is not always necessary to use other types of applications to do the conversion, especially if the PDF is mostly in text, with few images. Simply select the snippets you want to convert – or use the Comand + A combination to choose the entire text – and copy it.
With the text in the clipboard, just open the editor of your choice and paste the text in it, saving then to effect the conversion. Depending on the formatting, it is possible that the text is slightly out of line, however, it is only up to the user to evaluate if it is worthwhile to edit or search for a conversion tool.
Invest in Adobe PDF Converter
If you need a more professional solution, investing in PDF to Text Converter may be a good option. The web application also caters to other systems like Windows but also has the additional power to convert PDF also to the Excel spreadsheet format. However, it’s worth considering whether the purchase is valid, especially if you do not need to convert PDF to text on the Mac frequently. The Adobe PDF Expert costs $ 25 per year and is available at the link.
Other applications outside the Adobe exporter – the most effective, considering that Adobe created the PDF format – are also capable of converting PDF to text on the Mac. However, many of these options are also paid for. One of these alternatives is Cisdem PDF Converter, which has the same function as Adobe Export PDF. Its advantage is that although paid, it can be tested for a while for free. The disadvantage is that the formatting is not as good as other software, except for the simpler PDFs. Click the link to see the Cisdem PDF Converter.
How to convert PDF to text on Mac using Automator
A way closer to manual conversion, but in a more advanced way. To do this, open Automator to create a new app. Find the ” Get Selected Finder” Items option to activate the application from the menu that opens with the right mouse click.
Look for the ” Extract PDF Text ” option and drag it to the other side of the screen. From here, choose what format you want to save the extracted files – the available formats are RTF or TXT. Click the ” Run ” button to take a test. Choose a PDF and convert it to text. Open the converted document and make sure it is in an acceptable format. It is worth remembering that the method only extracts the text from the PDF, not working on documents with complex formatting or focused on images, since it does not recognize them.
If you need help, have doubts or concerns, do not hesitate to leave a comment in the comment box below and we will try to help you as soon as possible!