Can I edit a form like this and make it writable?

**Ron Duke** · 14 August 2007, 04:43 PM

I have a PDF form that needs to be altered and made writable. Is this possible in Xara Pro?

ron

**handrawn** · 14 August 2007, 05:00 PM

Hi Ron

I guess the answer to that is it depends on how the pdf was created.

If it imports into xara as text blocks you can retype it - if not, then it may import as vector shapes and you can 'remake' it - otherwise it will be a bitmap, and it's a question of putting white masks over on a new layer and retyping, often difficult to do seamlessly

Thats how I see it anyhow - I'm not really technical with file formats - just based on experience

**Ron Duke** · 14 August 2007, 05:05 PM

Steve,
Thanks. That's what I thought. The documents were clearly scanned as it imports into Xara Pro as a bitmap.
So, in essence, the document would have to be recreated if it were to be done properly, yes?

ron

**handrawn** · 14 August 2007, 05:05 PM

Best way if you want it to look good I think - that's what I'd do

**gottwavo** · 14 August 2007, 05:17 PM

You could do an OCR with Abby Finereader or something similar. If you don't have the software, just email the PDF and I see what I can do and send the result back. Should be a five minutes job. I would do this in MS Word with table and cells ... and create a PDF file from there.

**mg.architect** · 14 August 2007, 07:02 PM

There is a nice free application that I use for pdf forms that opens them and then lets you mark them up or type on them and then saves it as pdf with your changes. Very useful. When I open the pdf again with Adobe Reader the changes are all there.

It's called PDF-XChange Viewer and is available from pdfxviewer.com.

mg

**aridzone** · 15 August 2007, 12:14 AM

Awsome!

Thanks for the link mg

**Ron Duke** · 15 August 2007, 02:14 AM

Originally Posted by gottwavo

You could do an OCR with Abby Finereader or something similar. If you don't have the software, just email the PDF and I see what I can do and send the result back. Should be a five minutes job. I would do this in MS Word with table and cells ... and create a PDF file from there.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

gottawavo,
Thanks, I tried using that, but the document doesn't come out even close to what it should be. The text is all accurate, but the formatting is all screwed up.

Since it was scanned into Adobe, I think I'll just have to re-create the documents.

ron

**raynerj1** · 15 August 2007, 04:26 AM

i got a email flyer from the makers of Omnipage ( a OCR software company) they have a product that is supposed to do that also. If ya want, I can forward you the email...

**Albacore** · 15 August 2007, 08:21 AM

Ron what version of word or open office have you got? as some you can import the PDF table in. If it was me that was doing it I would just copy straight it into word making your own table thats not going to take long so long as you know a bit about tables.