Convert an outlined text back to editable text

Hai
Enything possible to convert an outlined text back to editable text in Adobe InDesign?
Thanks
Ashok

It might be more than one step. You need to:
Change the vectors back to live type
Style the live type with the correct font, size, leading, etc.
If you're looking for something that does all that in one step, I don't know of it. There are OCR (Optical Character Recognition) programs available. Adobe Acrobat (the full version, but I don't know about Adobe Reader) is one option. Keep in mind that there may be some work to do after the vectors have been changed to type. In the screenshot from InDesign below:
…the black text is placeholder text that I made for this example, I changed the text to outlines and exported as PDF. I then opened the PDF in Acrobat and went to Document>OCR Text Recognition>Recognize Text Using OCR. After the vectors were changed to text, I selected and copied the text, went back to InDesign, made a new text frame below, pasted the text and colored it red (for contrast). You will see that it did a pretty good job of changing the text, but it added paragraph returns at every line break. And if you look at this closeup of part of both texts close to each other:
You can see that the text isn't exactly the same. I think this is may be due to InDesign automatically selecting kerning pairs as you type, which weren't selected in the OCR process. I'm just saying that OCR isn't foolproof.
And after you get your text, you will likely have to style it yourself. If there are programs that will do better, I imagine someone will come along and suggest some.

Similar Messages

Text image back to Editable text

I need to convert "text image" to "editable text" in illustrator. I can't found any option for this in illustrator.
But in acrobat using the OCR option i changed the text image back to editable text. Is it possible to convert "text image" to "editable text" through programatically using Illustrator SDK. I need help for this. Kindly advice me.
Any script or plugin available for that.
Thanks in advance,
Prabudass
[email protected]

If you are looking for scripting advice, you are more likely to get a response on the scripting forum.
I would suggest looking at the Illustrator scripting guide and sample (both should be in the "Scripting" folder located in your Illustrator folder).

Is there a way to convert outlined text back into live text?

I have an Illustrator CS3 doc in which all text has been converted to outlines. (I wish I had an intelligent answer to the question of why I don't have the original doc with live text, but...) I remember seeing a post some time ago that explained how to change the outlines back into live text, which may have involved making a pdf or something, but I can't find that post anywhere in the Adobe forums. Does anyone know how to do this, if it can even be done? Thanks!

I had to test it. Yes, you can use Acrobat Pro to OCR the text. First you'll need to rasterize the outlined text in AI (at 300dpi bitmap) and save as PDF. Then open in Acrobat and go to "Documents>OCR Text Recognition" to convert the image to text. Click "Edit" in the "Recognize Text dialog window and select "Formatted Text & Graphics" to view only the text in Acrobat. Save and re-open in AI. The text will be editable, but broken into individual words. You can cut multiple words to the clipboard then click with the text tool and paste, to merge the text into a contiguous sentence, but you'll lose the spaces. Exporting as text from Acrobat may be a better route.

Difficulty editing text in iPhoto book project. I add a page layout with text, but can't edit the text box., Difficulty editing text in iPhoto book project. I add a page layout with text, but can't edit the text box.

I'm am having difficulty editing text in the iphoto book project. I have a text box that is pre-populated with text. I can edit the text once, then if I need to change something, it won't let me delete anything, only add to it. Anyone else having this problem?
Thanks!

You should be able to double click in the text box and add or delete text. First make a temporary, backup copy (if you don't already have a backup copy) of the library and try the following:
1 - delete the iPhoto preference file, com.apple.iPhoto.plist, that resides in your
User/Home/Library/ Preferences folder.
2 - delete iPhoto's cache file, Cache.db, that is located in your
User/Home/Library/Caches/com.apple.iPhoto folder.
Click to view full size
3 - launch iPhoto and try again.
NOTE: If you're moved your library from its default location in your Home/Pictures folder you will have to point iPhoto to its new location when you next open iPhoto by holding down the Option key when launching iPhoto. You'll also have to reset the iPhoto's various preferences.
NOTE 2: In Lion and Mountain Lion the Library folder is now invisible. To make it permanently visible enter the following in the Terminal application window: chflags nohidden ~/Library and hit the Enter button - 10.7: Un-hide the User Library folder.
If that doesn't help launch iPhoto with the Option key held down and create a new, test library. Import some photos, create a book and check to see if the same problem persists. Post back with the results.
OT

PDF back to editable text - is it possibly ?

Hi
got a .pdf document that needs to be corrected.
Can it be imported into Pages08 or any other text editor ?
Yours Bengt W

PDFPen 4 does very well at OCR-ing PDFs. It now uses the OmniPage engine. I've used it a couple of times with excellent results. You can also use it to place text boxes over text you want to change.
Of course, Preview in Snow Leopard can select & copy text much better than before.

RE: Layer-Convert To Editable Text

Hello Everyone.
I am trying to add an animation to a Photoshop Layer.
I have Imported a Photoshop Layer In After Effects CC.
When I try to convert It to a Editable Text, I get this Error message.
Thanks.

Dear Mylenium.
Please look at my Test Screen-shot.
I can Convert my Text " Animation" into Editable Text, and I can Animate It.
But I cant do it with the Dog, and those Yellow Rectangular Bottoms.
Note: The Dog Is created with a Custom Shape Tool.
And The Yellow Bottom's are created with Rectangular Tool.
They all In Seperate layers.
I also converted those to a smart object and still cant convert them to Editable Text.
As far as any Text In Photoshop I have no problem with converting them to Editable Text.
It just dose not work with the Shape Layers.
Inside After Effects, I Have selected: Import-File-My Photoshop file- Import Kind: Composition-Retain Layer Sizes, and I Check the Editable Layer Style Radio Bottom.
Thank you very much.

InDesign CC: Text in editable text fields disappearing after exporting

Hi,
I'm having an issue of text disappearing from editable text fields after exporting the document as an interactive pdf. I've created the text that needs to be editable in acrobat with InDesign CC. So for example, I want to have an editable text field that already says "I'm Mary." I want users to have an ability to change "Mary" to "Tom" or "Ben" in Acrobat. So the pdf should have an editable text form saying "I'm Mary" sentence when users open the pdf in Acrobat. However, after exporting, the text fields remains but the text itself "I'm Mary." is gone. I don't understand why this happens because the text is there when previewed in SWF preview window in InDesign.
The below is the list of steps I took.
STEP 1: Create some texts (For example, m with the text frame tool in InDesign CC
STEP 2: Right click the frame, and click on "Interactive > Convert to Text Field"
OR
STEP 2: Select the text frame, open "Buttons and Forms" window and change the type as "Text Field"
STEP 3: Export the document as an interactive pdf. The setting is default.
Result: When I open the pdf in Acrobat, the text field is there, but it is blank.
Please help me to resolve this issue. I know this is possible because a person before me at my job did it.
Thank you!

As far as I know, to have a pre-populated text form [I'm Mary] appear in the text field, you will need to set the Default Value of the text field in Acrobat. You can do that by selecting the property of the field > Options > Default Value

Iindesign to PPT with editable text

Is it possible to convert indesign documents to PPT with editable text? Thanks

I just recreate the files in Powerpoint, far more effective in my opinion.
I have Cs5.5 and Powerpoint 2003.
Package the CS5.5 file up to gather all the images to one location.
Extract/copy all the text to a word file or directly to the powerpoint stage.
You can then drage the images from the Links Folder directly into Powerpoint.
Powerpoint has a Crop Tool and you can resize images. The PPT presentation becomes a massive file, but you can go through each Format Picture options to resample and trim the cropped images.
I've been able to Place most image formats from .ai to eps, tif to psd to jpg, gif to PNG.
Powerpoint is very versatile in this regard.

Since upgrading to Firefox 18.0.1 on my Mac Pro, I often can't edit text, instead getting dreaded 'chirping'.

This is the wierdest thing - when I click in a text box the first time, it usually works. As long as I only use arrows to move text, it seems OK. When I try to click in a text field to edit text, or try to highlight text, both inside and outside text field, I get the dreaded chirping sound and can't edit, copy etc. After clicking a few times on the page outside the text field, I can again access and edit the text field. Does anyone else have this problem? It only happens in Firefox and only in the latest upgrade. I don't have this problem with Safari or Google Chrome.

Hi,
I'm encountering exactly the same issue as described by redcat01.
Hope someone could help :-)
Thanks in advance, and best regards.

Copying editable text to other apps

Hi all,
I'm having a little problem that I can't find an answer for anywhere. I had CS2 on my old Mac PowerPC (10.3.9) and upgraded to CS4 on a new iMac (10.5.8). In my old set-up when I selected text from Illustrator and copied it to another app it was pasted as editable text. In the new set-up when I try the same thing I get an uneditable image file (a PDF?) of the text.
Is there a setting in Illustrator or my System preferences I need to change to make the copied text paste as editable text? I tried changing the "File Handling and Clipboard" options but that didn't work.
Thanks for any help!
Mike

Millenium,
Well, yes and no. I understand what you mean but whenever I'm copying text to a Mail message it's not crucial for me to retain the appearance. I'm usually try to shortcut some typing (especially for long sections of text) or asking a client about a line of text that appears in an illustration I'm working on. In these cases I would much rather include editable text than an uneditable PDF.
Also, Mail seems to be the only app that I've encountered so far that doesn't give me an option when pasting the text, which would be the really smart thing to do. Even if I compose the message in Plain Text it still does it.
According to Mail help these are the options:
Here are ways to paste text:
■ To paste text so that it retains its original format, choose Edit > Paste.
■ To paste text so that its format matches adjacent text, choose Edit > “Paste and Match Style.”
■ To paste text with a single quote bar to the left of the text, choose Edit > Paste as Quotation.
Tried them all, none work. There doesn't seem to be any preference setting either. I know there are work-arounds (paste to another app, copy and paste to Mail) but you'd think there'd be a simpler option within Mail itself. Maybe there is. I'll post it if I find out what it is.

Why are InDesign text frames uneditable, or converted to outlined objects, when opened in CS4?

When opening a CS3 Layout in CS4 to make client text changes, all the text frame box edges (on their appropriate layers) are shown as dotted lines, and none of the type is editable!
I restored the old version, and opened in CS3 old version, and the same thing applies! Arggggh - there must be a frame preference that I don't know about or an instruction accidentally given.
How do I convert the text boxes back to editable regions? Got a deadline and am miffed.
I am a 20 year veteran of Pagemaker/Indesign/CS and this has never happened to me before!

Dotted lines for frame edges means that the item is on the Master Page. That’s why you can’t edit items, because they are on the Master, not on the numbered page. Either Command-Shift-click on the object to edit it or edit it on the Master Page. You should find out why so much of the document was built on the Master Page. Either the designer meant this to be a template for multiple existing or future pages, or someone just wasn’t paying attention and didn’t realize they were designing on the Master.

Outline box when editing text in PDF using v8

We are running, Windows XP, Acro8 with updates. Created PDF files from within INDCS3. Many of the frames are independent.
When trying to edit the text using the touchup text tool in Acrobat v8, it outlines complete area on the form which are not the same as the frames in INDCS3.
Was this something new in v8 and how could this be removed via preferences.
KPanthen, Albany, NY

This started happening back in AA6 I think. It is not new.

What styles are lost when importing/converting PS text to editable text?

In CS5.5, when I import a PSD file with one or more text layers (retaining layer styles and editable layer styles) some of the layer styles change upon import.
In addition, after import, in the Comp panel, sometimes there are no visual differences between that display and the display in PS. But in individual style layers in the Timeline panel, things have changed. Most typically, strokes with gradients are changed either to a solid color (gray or red) or to a simple white-to-black gradient. How is it the display can show a gradient when the stroke layer shows a solid color?
When the text layers are converted to editable text, those changed style properties kick in.
I'm guessing some or all of this has to do with AE text not being able to have a gradient for the fill or stroke? That being the case, is there a work-around?
If this goes beyond not being able to use a gradient for fill or stroke, what are the "rules"? What styles are lost/changed upon import and when converting to editable text?
Jeff Sengstack

> In addition, after import, in the Comp panel, sometimes there are no visual differences between that display and the display in PS. But in individual style layers in the Timeline panel, things have changed. Most typically, strokes with gradients are changed either to a solid color (gray or red) or to a simple white-to-black gradient. How is it the display can show a gradient when the stroke layer shows a solid color?
After Effects includes the entire Photoshop rendering engine, so any PSD and its layer styles should render fine (i.e., just like in Photoshop). If it doesn't, please submit a bug report.
But After Effects does not include the entire UI from Photoshop for creating and modifying layer styles.
The layer styles feature in After Effects exists primarily to provide fidelity between what you see in Photoshop and what you see in After Effects---not so that you can add and modify layer styles in After Effects. The UI in the Timeline panel is therefore a barebones implementation that doesn't include many of the features of layer styles in Photoshop. As you observe, there are many cases in which the representation in the Timeline panel is much more simplistic than what is in the Composition panel.
This separation between the UI and the ability to render with good fidelity is most apparent with pattern overlays. See this video for a good demonstration of how to use layer styles in After Effects by tapping into these features in Photoshop:
http://library.creativecow.net/articles/harrington_richard/photoshop_layer_styles_with_ae. php
> In CS5.5, when I import a PSD file with one or more text layers (retaining layer styles and editable layer styles) some of the layer styles change upon import.
How, exactly, do they change? A screenshot would be useful.
If it's what I'm suspecting, then the page that Mylenium points you to has the clue:
"When a layer style is applied to a vector layer—such as a text layer, a shape layer, or a layer based on an Illustrator footage item—visual elements that apply to the edges of the contents of the layer apply to the outlines of the vector objects, such as text characters or shapes. When a layer style is applied to a layer based on a non-vector footage item, the layer style applies to the edges of the layer’s bounds or masks."
When you convert between Photoshop text and editable text, you're changing the render order and also switching between raster images and vectors. This can affect appearance in many ways.

Outline Text as editable Text

Is there any possiblity to convert "Outline Text as editable Text" in illustrator?

Short of retyping, no.
If there is a lot of text, you might consider an OCR program.
If you have Acrobat, you can try its rudimentary OCR capabilities. Rasterize your text (using a sufficiently high document raster effects resolution setting), save a copy with PDF compatibility, then open it in Acrobat. Go to Document | Recognize Text Using OCR | Start. Don't expect an exact typeface match.
Copy the text in Acrobat and paste in Illustrator.

I have upgraded to Pages 5.0.1 and now I cannot print or pass along "comments" in the text of a document. I previously was able to convert the Pages document, with comments, to a "Word" document so that others could view the edited text. How do I do that?

I have upgraded to Pages 5.0.1 and now I cannot print or pass along "comments" in the text of a document. I previously was able to convert the Pages document, with comments, to a "Word" document so that others could view the edited text. How do I do that?

When you installed Pages v5, it automatically moved the older Pages ’09 v4.3 into /Applications/iWork '09 folder. If you want normal comment interoperability, you are advised to resume using the older version of Pages. Newer, is certainly not better with Pages v5.

Convert an outlined text back to editable text

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for