Alternate Media Workflow Alternate Media Workflow Strategies for PDFStrategies for PDF

Gaeir DietrichDirectorHigh Tech Center Training Unit

PDF

Great starting point– Contains all text and graphics– Easy to generate Word files once you

learn how– Reduces retyping

Excellent format for creating large print

What is a PDF?

Portable document format (PDF)Reads the same on any computerLooks like the bookContains all the textEasy for publishers

Types of PDF DocumentsTypes of PDF Documents

Text-based PDF– Searchable

Graphical PDF– Picture of text (i.e., a graphic)

Use text-selection (I-beam) toolto tell the difference– Text can be selected; graphics cannot

PDFs and PublishersPDFs and Publishers

Fairly easy for publishers– Usually even small publishers can

create a PDFMost accurate format

– Looks like the book– Includes page numbers and all text

Will be complete– BUT watch out for teacher’s editions

Requesting through ATPCRequesting through ATPC

Use the ATPC request form– www.atpc.net

If additional processing is required, send syllabus!

Please note: Look for the “conversation” feature on the ATPC interface

Security IssuesSecurity Issues

PDF files can be locked– Some files can be read with TTS but

no text extracted– Some files cannot be read

Sometimes OmniPage and/or FineReader can OCR locked files

If you receive a locked PDF, go back to the publisher

Working with PDF Files

Native utilities from Adobe– Adobe Reader– Acrobat Pro

Optical character recognition (OCR)

Free extraction tool: Balabolka

Different AcrobatsDifferent Acrobats

Adobe Reader– Free– Open, view, and read (including TTS)– www.adobe.com/products/reader/

Adobe Acrobat Professional – www.uscollegebuy.com Discounted Price– Crop pages, delete/combine pages,

renumber pages, extract text– Required for alternate format producers

Access with Acrobat ReaderAccess with Acrobat Reader

Access text-based PDFs within Reader Reads aloud

– But does not highlight or track Enlarges text

– Nice reflow feature Changes text/background colors Text highlighting, sticky notes, and

comments

Adobe Reader Reality CheckAdobe Reader Reality Check

As good as Kurzweil?– NO

As good as PDF Aloud?– NO

Appropriate as only assistive technology?– NO

Nice as a free, widely available option?– YES

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/printerFile > Print > Size…to Fit

Shortcut: Ctrl + P (tab through)

Tip: Crop document before enlarging

Print to Fit

Tiling

Choose paper size/printerFile > 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 + DExtract 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 helpPlace 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 controlCan control which text to include

More Control over Text

For graphical PDFsOrTo maintain more control over

extracting text from text-based PDFs

Use an OCR program!

Processing Graphical PDFsProcessing Graphical PDFs

Must use OCR program Use virtual printer with Kurzweil

– Creates KESI files– Will not work with locked files

Use OmniPage or FineReader– Sometimes work with locked files– OP handles tighter security than FineReader

does– Nothing works on some locked PDFs

Want to Stay in PDF?

Sometimes students do want a text-based PDF

Can OCR in Adobe Pro– Tools> Recognize Text

Under Tools

OCR Programs

ABBYY FineReader Pro– Easier to learn– Somewhat better with structure– About $75

Nuance OmniPage– A bit more accessible– A bit better with STEM materials– About $100

Kurzweil Users: Please Note!

If students are using Kurzweil, then use Kurzweil for the OCR– Do not OCR and then load into Kurzweil

unless you do not care about the page structure

Use KESI virtual printer– Print from Acrobat or Adobe Reader– Creates KESI files– Will not work with locked files

OCR ProgramsOCR Programs

Treat all graphics files the same– PDFs, TIFFs, JPEGs

Load image file– Create templates

Zone (analyze structure)Run OCR

OCR Process Details

Crop before loading into OCR engineTurn 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

featuresSave to Word

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

SummarySummary

Source files vs. end-user files– Source files = for you to create alt

media from– End-user files = alt media formats

PDF– Consider PDFs as source files (files to

process) that sometimes double as end-user files (for certain students with limited access issues)