Starting Solid Converter PDF

There are two ways to start Solid Converter PDF:

1. Double-click on the Solid Converter PDF desktop shortcut - or -

   

2. Use the Start menu to launch the program.

You can also use Solid Converter PDF from the Windows Explorer menu or from a command prompt. (See the sections at the end of this document for details.)

Selecting Program Options

To ensure that Solid Converter PDF works to your specifications, click the Options button before using the program. Check the settings and make any changes necessary.

The options you can choose from are:

• Launch Microsoft Word - Controls launching of an application in Microsoft Word after a file is converted. If For Single file is active then the default application will be launched only when you are converting single files. The For Multiple Files setting will launch the appropriate application when converting multiple files.
• Output Path - Tells the application where to save the new files. You can choose to browse to a folder before saving, save to the same source folder as the original image(s), or save to the most recent folder.
• Output File Format ¡V Defines the default file format to which the PDF content will be saved (DOC or RTF).
• User Interface Language ¡V Selects the language in which the user interface will display.
• Keep progress window open - Causes the conversion progress dialog to remain on the screen until you close it.
• Use Wizard ¡V Specifies default behavior when you click the Convert button. If you select Yes, the wizard will display. If you select No, the Save As dialog appears.
• Warnings ¡V Controls whether certain warnings display during file conversion:
  • Scanned Document ¡V Displays if there is no text in the converted file. The most common reason for this is that the document contains only images.
  • Symbolic fonts ¡V Displays if the converted document contains non-standard encoding.

  You can also choose from among the following Converter Configurations. These settings display the default behavior of each item:

• Reconstruction Mode ¡V Controls layout, formatting, and text flow recovery. You can choose one of the following as the default Reconstruction Mode: Flowing, Tables, Continuous, Plain Text, or Exact.
• Image Recovery ¡V Controls how images will be recovered and anchored within the page. Choose from Remove Images, Automatic Anchoring, Anchor to Page, or Anchor to Paragraph.
• Keep Character Spacing ¡V Retain the character width and spacing from the original PDF file.
• Prompt for Page Range ¡V Provide the option to specify a range of pages to be converted from the original document.

Overview of Conversion Methods

Solid Converter PDF gives you two ways to convert files from one format to another:

• Using the Wizard. The wizard walks you through the process of opening a PDF file, explaining the steps in detail and allowing you to choose from different formatting and file saving options.
• Using the ¡§Save As¡¨ Dialog. Instead of using the wizard you can set the program to use the Save As dialog box to save your files. You can set this up by setting Use Wizard to No in Options.
• Fast Conversion. If you already are familiar with the document formatting options, you may want to use the fast method for converting files from PDF to a DOC or RTF format.
• Images Only. If you want to preserve only the images contained in a document, Solid Converter PDF gives you that option. Before starting your conversion process, select one or more files to use by clicking the filename. You can select multiple files by holding down the CTRL key before clicking.

Using the Wizard

Select one or more source files and click the Convert button.

1. Open Solid Converter PDF using one of the following methods:
   • Desktop. Double-click on the Solid Converter PDF icon [solidconverterpdficon.png].
   • Windows Start menu. From your Microsoft Windows Start Programs menu, select Solid Documents|Solid Converter PDF|Solid Converter PDF.
   
   

   

2. In the SolidConverter PDF window, browse to the folder containing the PDF file(s) you want to convert. Select one or more source files to convert (you can hold down the CTRL key to select multiple files), then click the Convert button to begin the wizard.

   

3. Select your Reconstruction Mode. Options are:
   • Flowing. Recovers page layout, columns, formatting, and graphics, and preserves text flow.
   • Tables. Recovers page layout, formatting, and graphics, and preserves text flow, but ignores columns.
   • Continuous. Does not retain the exact layout of the document. Correctly reconstructs the text order but will only recover paragraph formatting, graphics, and text flow.
   • Plain Text. Displays text without any formatting or layout. This mode will not recover formatting (characters or paragraphs) or graphics but will recover text flow using column and page layout analysis. (Note: You must use the wizard when converting a PDF file to plain text.)
   • Exact. Uses Word text boxes to ensure that the text and graphic layout in the Word document is the same as the PDF file. This mode should not be used if you need to make lots of edits to the recovered content. It is most useful for short artistic or brochure-like documents. After making your selection, click Next.

   

   Tip: To skip individual steps and go directly to the conversion, you can click the Last button at any point in the wizard.

   

4. Select how you want your images anchored in the document ¡V automatically, with the page, or with the paragraph. You can also optionally choose to have all images removed. Click Next to continue.

   

5. To preserve the character spacing from the PDF document, select the Preserve PDF Character Spacing check box. (Note: Do not choose this option if you intend to make substantial edits to the document.) Click Next to continue.

   

6. Select how you want the document preserved ¡V as a Microsoft Word document (.doc), Rich Text Format document (.rtf), or unformatted text document (.txt). (Note: The .txt option may not be available if your PDF document uses complex page formatting.) If desired, you can choose a different folder and/or filename for saving the RTF output file; the default is the folder containing the PDF document. If you want the document to immediately open for editing, select the Open document for editing after conversion check box. Click Next to continue.
7. Select All to convert all pages in the document or Pages to specify a range of pages to convert. If you select Pages, boxes will display that allow you to enter a page range. Click Next to continue.

   

8. Your conversion options are displayed. Click Previous if you want to change any of the settings.

If the settings are correct, click Finish. A message will display that will notify you when the conversion is finished. The document can then be opened in another application (or will automatically open if you selected the Open document for editing check box earlier).

Note: If you are converting multiple documents and have chosen to have the documents open after conversion, you may need to return to the program after each document is converted to walk through the wizard again. You can do this by clicking the SolidConverter PDF button on your Windows taskbar (bottom of screen).

Using the ¡§Save As¡¨ Dialog

In Options, if you select Use Wizard|No, a Save As dialog box will display when you click the Options button.

To use this feature, first select one or more source files and click the Convert button.

1. If a single file is selected the converter will prompt with a Save As dialog to allow you to specify the target folder, file name, and format.
2. If multiple files have been chosen the program will prompt with a Browse for folder dialog box so that you can specify the target folder. The target format for multiple file conversion is specified by your Target Format selection in Options.

Saving to a Single Format

1. Open Solid Converter PDF using one of the following methods:
   • Desktop. Double-click on the Solid Converter PDF icon [solidconverterpdficon.png].

     

   • Windows Start menu. From your Microsoft Windows Start Programs menu, select Solid Documents|Solid Converter PDF|Solid Converter PDF.

   

2. In the SolidConverter PDF window, browse to the folder containing the PDF file(s) you want to convert. Select one or more source files to convert (you can hold down the CTRL key to select multiple files).

   

3. At the bottom of the window, select your Reconstruction Mode. Options are:
   • Flowing. Recovers page layout, columns, formatting, and graphics, and preserves text flow.
     • Tables. Recovers page layout, columns, formatting, and graphics, but ignores columns.
     • Continuous. Does not retain the exact layout of the document. Correctly reconstructs the text order but will only recover paragraph formatting, graphics, and text flow.
     • Plain Text. Displays text without any formatting or layout. This mode will not recover formatting (characters or paragraphs) or graphics but will recover text flow using column and page layout analysis. (Note: You must use the wizard when converting a PDF file to plain text.)
     • Exact. Uses Word text boxes to ensure that the text and graphic layout in the Word document is the same as the PDF file. This mode should not be used if you need to make lots of edits to the recovered content. It is most useful for short artistic or brochure-like documents. If desired, you can select the Keep Character Spacing check box to retain the same character spacing as the PDF file and/or Prompt for Page Range if you only want to extract specific pages from the PDF file.

     

   • Click the drop-down arrow next to the Convert button and select one of the following:
     • Save as DOC. Saves the new document as a Microsoft Word document.
     • Save as RTF. Saves the new document as a Rich Text Format (RTF) document.

     

   • If you have selected the Prompt for Page Range option, the Convert Pages dialog box displays. Select the Pages from button, enter your starting and ending pages, and click OK.

     

   • A message will display that will notify you when the conversion is finished.

Extracting Images Only

1. Open Solid Converter PDF using one of the following methods:
   • Desktop. Double-click on the Solid Converter PDF icon.

     

   • Windows Start menu. From your Microsoft Windows Start Programs menu, select Solid Documents|Solid Converter PDF|Solid Converter PDF.

   

2. In the SolidConverter PDF window, browse to the folder containing the PDF file(s) you want to extract images from. Select one or more source files (you can hold down the CTRL key to select multiple files), then click the down arrow next to the Convert icon and select Extract Images Using Wizard.

   

3. Select your Image Format (Same as original, BMP, JPG, PNG, or TIF). Next, click Browse to choose the folder where you want the files to be saved. (If you do not choose a path, the new files will be saved in a subfolder under the original.) Click Next to continue.

   

   Tip: To skip individual steps and go directly to the conversion, you can click the Last button at any point in the wizard.

   

4. Select All to convert all pages in the document or Pages to specify a range of pages to convert. If you select Pages, boxes will display that allow you to enter a page range. Click Next to continue.

   

5. Your conversion options are displayed. Click Previous if you want to change any of the settings.

If the settings are correct, click Finish. A message will display that will notify you when the conversion is finished.

Note: If you are converting multiple documents and have chosen to have the documents open after conversion, you may need to return to the program after each document is converted to walk through the wizard again. You can do this by clicking the SolidConverter PDF button on your Windows taskbar (bottom of screen).

Using Solid Converter PDF from Windows Explorer

To convert one or more graphic files from Windows Explorer, right-click the file(s) and select how you want the document converted. If you select Convert using Wizard, the target file will be located in the same folder.

Using Solid Converter PDF from AdobeR AcrobatR

Solid Converter PDF will add a plug-in to Adobe Acrobat 5.0 or higher (standard or professional versions). (Note: This feature is not available for the free Reader program. To use this functionality, open a PDF file in Acrobat,then convert to Word through the toolbar or the File menu (see below).

Creating PDF Files from Microsoft WordR

You can save Word documents as PDF files with Solid Converter Create PDF add-in for Word. Create PDF can be found on the File menu in Word or on the Solid Converter toolbar. The Create PDF dialog has an Options button to configure PDF creation features including document security settings.

Using Solid Converter PDF from the Command Prompt

To use Solid Converter PDF from the command prompt, navigate to the directory that contains the executable file for Solid Converter PDF. (The default location is c:Program FilesSolidDocumentsSolidConverterPDFSCPDF.) In the directory containing the executable file run SolidConverterPDF.exe /? from the command line to see options.

Usage example:
SolidConverterPDF.exe [h]/i Input[/o Output][/w argument][/y][/n]
[/c argument][/d argument][/f argument][/s][/a argument][/p xxx-yyy][/pwd ["password"]]

You can use the following options:
/h - To view command line help.
/i - To specify file or files to be converted. This parameter takes wildcards (*.*).
/o - To specify the target file name or directory.
/w - Silent mode (hidden progress dialog is default). Arguments: /w + to always show progress dialog, /w x to automatically close progress dialog when successful.
/y - To force overwriting of existing files.
/n - To force the converter to not overwrite existing files (i.e. if the file exists, it will not be overwritten).
/c - To specify format options (the default is Flowing). Arguments: /c tabl for Tables, /c cont for Continuous, /c txt for Text, /c exact for Exact, or /c x for Images Only.
/s - To ignore character spacing.
/a - To specify image placement mode. Arguments: /a g for Page Anchoring, /a p for Paragraph Anchoring, or /a r for Remove Images.
/p xxx-yyy - To specify the page conversion range. xxx specifies the start page number (must be greater than 0) and yyy specifies the end page number.
/f - To specify the target format. Valid types are rtf (/f rtf) and doc (/f doc).
/pwd - To enter a password for encrypted files. If no argument specified, you will be prompted for a password for each file. "password" (with the actual password entered between the quotes) will specify a password to use. If the file is protected by an empty password, simply use double quotes ("").

PDF File Security

Solid Converter honors the security settings created in the PDF file. PDF files can be set up to restrict viewing, printing, editing and copying. If security settings are set in the PDF file that you are recovering, you will be prompted for the password.