• How can I correctly recuperate/extract Arabic, Chinese and Hebrew text?

Question

Hello -
Context:
As a packaging designer, my clients are often requesting that we add Arabic, Chinese and Hebrew texts on packaging.
More often than not, I receive 4 different types of text sources :
—  1.
A .PDF containing a scan of the text needed (so nothing more than a picture).
—  2.
A .PDF whereby I can select the text and copy it into MS Word® but the sentence is no longer the same as what I had copied from the .PDF file! (e.g. some of the characters are replaced by strange ones).
—  3.
A .PDF file where the client has inserted an annotation which displays correctly in the Acrobat® but the moment that I do a copy/paste into MS Word®, the whole sentence is inversed (text appearing left to right instead of right to left -> For Arabic).
—  4.
Sometimes I also receive Excel® files.
After copying the text into MS Word®, I save the file in .PDF format and I then re-open it in Adobe Illustrator®.
Softwares:
          • Adobe® CS5 (Illustrator,...)
          • MS Office® 2011
          • Mac OS 10.6.8
Question:
Is there an easier, faster and more reliable method to extract such "exotic" text?
e.g. a plug-in, another software, another method (instead of having to pass through MS Word®, ...)
Thank you for your precious help.
Have anice day…
- Dimitri

Answer 1

Not really. It's inherent in dealing with this stuff on non-native systems. Your issues 2. and 3. Should be fixable by manually setting the document language in Word, though. Same for 4. then, of course, assuming the PDFs and comments use a standard Unicode/ OpenType font that can provide al lthe glyphs and no otehr substitution is going on....
Mylenium