[p2p-research] reverting from pdf to word query

[M. Fioretti]

On Thu, Feb 19, 2009 17:42:29 PM +0700, Michel Bauwens wrote:
> Dear friends,
> 
> I hope someone can help with this small technical query from Bernard
> Lietaer: "Is there a solution to revert the pdf version to a Word
> version?"

In general, it isn't possible to go from PDF to real, editable text
files without information loss. From this point of view, PDF is little
more than a photography of the printed version of a document. So, if
there are text boxes floating around and/or multi-column text (as is
the case with my "Tragedy of Commons" article which I believe led you
to ask this question) you may have columns merged and, in general,
text mixed up the wrong way, ie these two columns in PDF:

Hello,        how are
Michel        you?

may become with some converters:

    	   Hello, how are Michel you?

This said, if you enter "pdf to word converter" in google several free
programs come up. Which one is best depend on your operating system,
the document type etc...

    HTH,
    Marco Fioretti
    http://mfioretti.net
-- 
Your own civil rights and the quality of your life heavily depend on how
software is used *around* you:            http://digifreedom.net/node/84