How to convert a PDF to a Visio or similar diagram?
Thread poster: Jerzy Czopik
Jerzy Czopik
Jerzy Czopik  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 02:52
Member (2003)
Polish to German
+ ...
Jan 2, 2012

Usually I do not have any problems when converting PDFs. This time however a customer gave us a PDF file, consisting of 11 organizational diagrams, created in Visio (or PowerPoint) and I need to convert not only the text, but also the boxes and arrows, as recreating the diagrams from scratch will take ages.
Anyone aware of a decent solution to do this?

MTIA
Best regards
Jerzy


 
Adam Łobatiuk
Adam Łobatiuk  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 02:52
Member (2009)
English to Polish
+ ...
FineReader Jan 2, 2012

In Fine Reader, you can select everything as an image area, and then select text as text areas on that image area. Not the most elegant solution, but should work.

 
Sergei Leshchinsky
Sergei Leshchinsky  Identity Verified
Ukraine
Local time: 03:52
Member (2008)
English to Russian
+ ...
Print to BMP/PNG/JPG Jan 2, 2012

Then crop.

 
Jerzy Czopik
Jerzy Czopik  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 02:52
Member (2003)
Polish to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
The problem is... Jan 2, 2012

That it will take ages...
I have tried to use Adams solution right now, but I seem not to be able to draw areas on an already drawn area. This means I seem not to be able to read the picture and the text in one run...
If only FineReader would extract the text boxes in correct location and size, I indeed could try to place them over the picture in Word.
The other solution does not work for me - I can store the diagrams as JPG from Acrobat, but this still does not help me...


 
Bernard Lieber
Bernard Lieber  Identity Verified
Local time: 02:52
English to French
+ ...
Source Files Jan 2, 2012

Hi Jerzy,

The only clean solution would be to get the source files from your customer, the pdf was generated from source files, any other workaround is going to be messy and time-consuming.

Sometimes a convincing argument is money or quality, point out that you can't produce a decent document without the source files or that it would cost a lot more to redo the diagrams from scratch, most of the time the source files turn up in no time at all.

Good luck!... See more
Hi Jerzy,

The only clean solution would be to get the source files from your customer, the pdf was generated from source files, any other workaround is going to be messy and time-consuming.

Sometimes a convincing argument is money or quality, point out that you can't produce a decent document without the source files or that it would cost a lot more to redo the diagrams from scratch, most of the time the source files turn up in no time at all.

Good luck!

Bernard

[Edited at 2012-01-02 19:38 GMT]
Collapse


 
Jerzy Czopik
Jerzy Czopik  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 02:52
Member (2003)
Polish to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
That would be the best solution Jan 2, 2012

However, unfortunately and even if it is a direct customer, the person I have got the job from seems not to have any possibility to get the original files. The source file was Word, and the diagrams have been pasted there from whatever, so even if he gets me the Word files this will bring next to nothing.
Most probably in this case editing the JPG files from PDF will be the best solution.


 
José Henrique Lamensdorf
José Henrique Lamensdorf  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 22:52
English to Portuguese
+ ...
In memoriam
InFix Pro Jan 2, 2012

Jerzy,

Have a look at http://www.iceni.com/infix-Translate.htm

You may download a fully-functional demo. The only catch is that the demo will watermark every page with "made with a demo version of InFix". Then - if it works OK for you - you can either buy the program and remove it, or "pay per file", which will make it quite affordable, in case you don't intend to do it
... See more
Jerzy,

Have a look at http://www.iceni.com/infix-Translate.htm

You may download a fully-functional demo. The only catch is that the demo will watermark every page with "made with a demo version of InFix". Then - if it works OK for you - you can either buy the program and remove it, or "pay per file", which will make it quite affordable, in case you don't intend to do it again.

My description of the process is at http://www.lamensdorf.com.br/pdf-en.html after a long explanation (for clients) on what it's all about. They developed it for translation using either Trados or DejaVu, but it works fine with WordFast too.

The only caveat is that you need to read the manual, because many things in a PDF are not the way we thought they would be, so the program has a lot of features to handle them.





[Edited at 2012-01-02 22:46 GMT]
Collapse


 
Jerzy Czopik
Jerzy Czopik  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 02:52
Member (2003)
Polish to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
I already wanted to shout Heureka... Jan 2, 2012

but unfortunately this great tool does not work for my crazy PDF files.
They have two page orientations: while page header and footer are portrait, the main part is landscape. And the landscape part is not recognized by Infix... I have to test, if Infix will "eat" rotated pdf and shall report back.

Edit: Nope. The "landscape" parts in PDF are images and so not editable in PDF. Have to stick to FinReader again.

[Edited at 2012-01-02 23:07 GMT]


 
John Fossey
John Fossey  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 21:52
Member (2008)
French to English
+ ...
Usually works Jan 3, 2012

Adam Łobatiuk wrote:

In Fine Reader, you can select everything as an image area, and then select text as text areas on that image area. Not the most elegant solution, but should work.


This usually works. The text is placed as textbox frames superimposed over the image. At least that's what happens with PDF Transformer so I would have expected the same behaviour with Finereader.


 
Jerzy Czopik
Jerzy Czopik  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 02:52
Member (2003)
Polish to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
FineReader works Jan 3, 2012

You just need to know how. Thanks to Adam for showing me this.

 
Amin Masruri
Amin Masruri

Local time: 08:52
English to Indonesian
+ ...
Iceni Infix Will do Jan 26, 2012

I found Iceni Infix PDF Editor Pro when I was googling to to solve my problem - translating a PDF file. I find it really helpful. It works by exporting/converting a PDF file into an xml file. We can then translate the xml with a CAT tool (I usually use OmegaT, which fully support xml files exported by Infix). After translation, we just need to convert the xml back to PDF using infix. The result is a PDF file with totally the same layout as that of the original PDF, but in different language.
... See more
I found Iceni Infix PDF Editor Pro when I was googling to to solve my problem - translating a PDF file. I find it really helpful. It works by exporting/converting a PDF file into an xml file. We can then translate the xml with a CAT tool (I usually use OmegaT, which fully support xml files exported by Infix). After translation, we just need to convert the xml back to PDF using infix. The result is a PDF file with totally the same layout as that of the original PDF, but in different language.
Another amazing thing about the software is that we can edit a PDF file the way we edit an MS Word file, such as deleting, changing the font, typing, etc.
I once tested this software to translate a PDF file with complicated layout and containing labelled graphs and it worked. I was even able to translate the labels and other details on the graphs.
I think, translators should make sure that this software is in their toolbox.
Here's the link:
http://www.iceni.com/
Collapse


 
Jerzy Czopik
Jerzy Czopik  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 02:52
Member (2003)
Polish to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Infix does unfortunately not do Jan 26, 2012

My story has already found a good end thanks to Adam, so I was able to use Abbyy on that files.
Infix has properly converted all accessible text in PDF to a translatable file, but unfortunately did not access the pictures - and my diagrams were all pictures, not editable pictures.

Nevertheless, due to this question I've learned how to use Abbyy Fine Reader in a better way and tested (finally buying) Infix. Not that bad I would mean, as on top my job could be delivered properly
... See more
My story has already found a good end thanks to Adam, so I was able to use Abbyy on that files.
Infix has properly converted all accessible text in PDF to a translatable file, but unfortunately did not access the pictures - and my diagrams were all pictures, not editable pictures.

Nevertheless, due to this question I've learned how to use Abbyy Fine Reader in a better way and tested (finally buying) Infix. Not that bad I would mean, as on top my job could be delivered properly
Collapse


 
jacknorman
jacknorman
India
Converting visio Mar 2, 2015

Hello,
Well i know the perfect solution to this. - Universal Document Converter. It will automatically convert the text areas that you are talking about along with the text into PDF instantly. I have used it many times to convert my work visio files. Check it out at www.print-driver.com
Hope this helps


 


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:

Moderator(s) of this forum
Laureana Pavon[Call to this topic]

You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

How to convert a PDF to a Visio or similar diagram?






Trados Studio 2022 Freelance
The leading translation software used by over 270,000 translators.

Designed with your feedback in mind, Trados Studio 2022 delivers an unrivalled, powerful desktop and cloud solution, empowering you to work in the most efficient and cost-effective way.

More info »
Wordfast Pro
Translation Memory Software for Any Platform

Exclusive discount for ProZ.com users! Save over 13% when purchasing Wordfast Pro through ProZ.com. Wordfast is the world's #1 provider of platform-independent Translation Memory software. Consistently ranked the most user-friendly and highest value

Buy now! »