PDF to LIT

03-09-03, 12:08 PM

I have quite a few PDF files that I would like to convert to .lit files.
Anyone have any idea if/how this can be done?

BTW thanks to this site I found the "Overdrive Windowworks" to generate .lit. Excellent program....

Thanks... Didger

jda5id · 03-09-03, 01:10 PM

I am guessing you are looking for a direct conversion utility of some sort, but here is one method that comes to mind that is free.

You can copy the information out of (many) PDF files to the clipboard (Ctrl+A does this in one step). You could then paste the contents of the clipboard into an MS Word document. Microsoft provides an add-in that allows you to generate .LIT files from word documents. This won't work very well if the doc has lots of graphics and special formatting, but should work well for simple text files.

Raynne413 · 03-09-03, 01:28 PM

Here is a link to the add-in for MS Word. It is called Read in Microsoft Reader

03-10-03, 10:48 AM

Thanks for the replies - they work but as you said, not too kind with graphics and formatting.

Didger

Dude · 03-10-03, 02:46 PM

What is wrong with using Adobe Acrobat Reader for PocketPC?

Raynne413 · 03-10-03, 02:55 PM

If I remember correctly, someone said that it takes up a pretty good amount of space.

jda5id · 03-10-03, 04:51 PM

The other issue that I have had with Acrobat reader is that it doesn't always do a good job with fitting stuff to the screen, i.e. I end up doing lots of horizontal scrolling. I haven't really sorted it out yet, but I believe it has to do with the settings on the original document when it was converted to .PDF and whether the author allows acrobat to attempt to resize.

At least with Reader you never have to scroll.

Therigwin · 03-10-03, 05:25 PM

It sounds like your reflow is not working properly with Adobe Acrobat. I had that problem once (it would not go into reflow mode) and I just uninstalled and reinstalled and I was all set after a soft reboot. No need to do the scrolling.

Now I keep all the IBM redbooks for Lotus Notes Domino on my Pocket PC as a nice quick reference.

jda5id · 03-10-03, 06:06 PM

I still think it might be document specific because reflow works on some documents (I can turn it on and off at will and see the impact that it has) but on others the menu option is grayed out and I cannot put it into reflow mode.

Therigwin - If you would be willing an easy way to verify would be to test your Axim on a common document. Here is a link to the "Cluetrain Manifesto" in PDF format. It is one of the documents that I cannot "reflow" and have to horizontal scroll a lot. If you would be willing to download and take a look it would be much appreciated. My guess is that this document can't reflow because it is so highly formatted, but I would love to be proven wrong!

http://www.cluetrain.com/cluetrain.pdf

Therigwin · 03-10-03, 06:36 PM

Just looked at it and it will reflow, but it is not pretty because they did not design that pdf well. I would contact them and have them read up on designing PPC friendly psf files.

jda5id · 03-10-03, 06:46 PM

Thanks Therigwin...I had just realized exactly what was going on and had come to the same conclusion.

What happens is that for reflow to work the PDF has to be properly tagged, otherwise you will get the scrolling that I was seeing. If a PDF has not been tagged and you copy it to the PPC via ActiveSync then Adobe will attempt to do some tagging on its own (if you allow it to, it does pop up a dialog asking whether you want to or not.) You do not get this option however if you just copy the PDF to the Axim via a network share. I knew that Word and Excel did conversion when they went through ActiveSync, but I didn't know Acrobat did too. I saw the document-specific availability of "reflow" because some of my docs were already tagged and some were not and because I was copying them directly to the Axim instead of using ActiveSync. Once I understood that this was how things worked, I copied Cluetrain over via ActiveSync and saw the same "ugly" document that you did, albeit one that supported "reflow" and did not require horizontal scrolling.

Thanks again for your quick reply. Second time today you have been right back with an answer to a question of mine. :)

Therigwin · 03-10-03, 07:25 PM

Well the quick response is due to the fact I have time on my hands.

Only working part time, I try to read up on things to keep my skills sharp. Plus all of my boys are sick and were taking naps. (They have since woken up and have been fed)

Glad I could help. I believe if you have the full version of Adobe, you can modify the document and add your own tags for the reflow.