Pdf to Word converter for personal books?

Hello friends

I am looking for your recommendation for converting PDF books to Word for personal book builder.

I have used Acrobat pro and Nitro but the Hebrew and Greek font gets messed up. That is the basic need. Please help if you know any such software for Hebrew and Greek accuracy in conversion.

Thanks and blessings

Bishop Salamat Khokhar

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Comments

Fred Chapman

This is an issue that has been discussed repeatedly in these forums. Some have had success with a number of different programs and conversion services. My personal experience has been hit and miss. The quality of a conversion really depends on the pdf you are starting with. With that said, I am sure many will chime in with their favorite solution. I don't do it very often, but when I do convert a pdf to docx I have found the converter built into Word 2013 adequate.

James Taylor

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/773397#Comment_773397

I have found the converter built into Word 2013 adequate.

Me too, Word 2016 often even gets the footnotes linked :-D

David Ames

but the Hebrew and Greek font gets messed up.

Re: Word 2013 and 2016 [and any others that get recommended] How well do they work with Hebrew and Greek?

I have used Word 13 but not for anything other then English.

Mike Childs

It is an often discussed topic, but one that I am always interested in. Keep hoping to find that perfect solution, but haven't yet.

I use Word 2016, but find Omnipro Ultimate or the Adobe online subscription service (about $25) often works better for me. And Calibre usually does as well. In addition to being free, Calibre can convert books, such as epub and other formats, directly to docs. That can be very helpful with public domain books that you want in Logos.

I think that Omnipage Ultimate is often the best of them all. Also, Omnipage is pretty much the only way to convert a non-text pdf into text, and then make a Logos personal book out it that is seachable.

I would personally rank them in this order for converting PDF to DOCX:

Omnipage Ultimate

Adobe Subscription service

Word 2016

Calibre ebook manager (free, and almost as good as the others)

I think you had better expect to do some editing no matter what solution you use.

JohnB

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/773430#Comment_773430

but find Omnipro Ultimate

My usual one as well.

-------

Greek and Hebrew will always be problematic in all the conversion programs that I am aware of.

There are two types of pdf for this situation.

One is where a digital article of book was converted directly into a pdf. The pdf should consist of both the original text and a picture of the text. IF the Greek/Hebrew was typed in a modern Unicode font, a decent conversion program should give you near perfect results as it will extract the original text. If a proprietary font was used and not Unicode, most conversion programs are likely to give you gibberish where the Greek and Hebrew should be.

The other type of pdf is where a scan from a book has been turned into a pdf. The program producing the pdf will probably have had a try to create text from it to give the two layers BUT it will only find what it is looking for. IF it is only looking for Latin script that is what it will find. I do not know of one that comes ready to read Greek and Hebrew script. Pointing in Greek and Hebrew produces another layer of reading problems.

One can always load the pdf as am image into Omnipage which will look at the picture on the pdf and try to create the text from that but it would also need to be looking for Hebrew and Greek and I am not sure how to do that.

Also footnotes from old books tend to be tiny and Omnipage does NOT like that in English never mind Hebrew or Greek and tends to produce incomprehensible results.

Please correct me someone if I am talking rubbish in all or in part!!

Rodney Phillips

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/773449#Comment_773449

"Get OmniPage Ultimate for $499.99" ????? [:O]

I will stay with my $24 per year subscription to Adobe....

Mattillo

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/773454#Comment_773454

Have you tried Calibre? It is free and works well for me.

Anthony

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/773531#Comment_773531

My best and most consistent experience has been with Nuance; worst with Nitro. In between with Word, Calibre, and other misc.

Mike Childs

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/773454#Comment_773454

"Get OmniPage Ultimate for $499.99" ????? ar

I will stay with my $24 per year subscription to Adobe....

No, it is often on sale for $99 or less. I know that is still a lot of money, but how else can you convert a book that is an image pdf and not text? Of course it is not perfect, and requires editing. It is the best I have found. Adobe is very good, but it does not convert image pdf files to text.

Note that I did recommend Calibre, which is free and does a great job. Hey, I am not rich, and I put myself through seminary with a wife and child. I have raised 4 children and am helping to raise 9 grandchildren now. I know about money being tight because I have been there, and am not too far from there financially now. I remember selling plasma while in seminary to buy my Moulton and Geden Greek Concordance and a set of Kittle. I am not out of touch or insensitive to your situation. But I digress....

Whether Omnipro is worth the 70 to 99 dollars really depends on how often you use it. I am beginning to add personal books as much as purchasing books from Logos. That is because over the last 20 years I have gradually acquired many of the resources from Logos that I need. My interests are becoming more specialized. To me something like Omnipro Ultimate is invaluable for making personal books.

But don't misunderstand my recommendation. Omnipro Ultimate is far from perfect and requires a good bit of editing. I know of no solution that does not.

Bishop Salamat Khokhar

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/773633#Comment_773633

Hi friends

I am thankful to you all for posting your valuable insight concerning this issue.

Blessings