Cannot convert word doc to pdf
Thread poster: Ines Burrell
Ines Burrell
Ines Burrell  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
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English to Latvian
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Nov 10, 2005

I have a word dicument which seemingly is protected (as there is an option "unprotect" in tools), although the client says nobody has ever protected it and they do not have a pasword. As a result I cannot edit the text and use Trados.
I thought I will convert it to pdf and then back to word doc via Fine Reader. However my Adobe Acrobat 6 Prof freezes every time it starts converting this document.
Any other ideas?

Thanks in advance,
Burrell


 
Csaba Ban
Csaba Ban  Identity Verified
Hungary
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Client should have a password Nov 10, 2005

I just created an empty Word file and protected it with a password. I tried to convert it to pdf, but I was prompted to unprotect the doc first.
You should insist with the client that the document is indeed protected and they should find out the password from the person who created the document.
Csaba


 
Ines Burrell
Ines Burrell  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
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TOPIC STARTER
No pasword Nov 10, 2005

The person who created the document says it was never protected. It was not supposed to be uneditable but somehow it is. I was told to disregard the formatting and just deliver the translation as plain text in Word.
The thing is Acrobat does not ask me for password. It starts converting something and eventually freezes.


 
Marie-Céline GEORG
Marie-Céline GEORG  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 18:20
German to French
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Have you tried to save in new file? Nov 10, 2005

Hi Burrell,
I don't know if it works in your case, but when I have problems with a Word file, sometimes I simply copy all the text except the last paragraph mark and paste it in a new file. You might lose some of the formatting but it may solve the accessibility problem.
HTH

Marie-Céline


 
tlmurray (X)
tlmurray (X)
Local time: 12:20
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Have a Mac available? Nov 10, 2005

I just protected a Word doc, and on a Mac, I can make a PDF of it without a challenge for the password.

 
Ines Burrell
Ines Burrell  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
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You are a star! Nov 10, 2005

Marie-Céline GEORG wrote:

Hi Burrell,
I don't know if it works in your case, but when I have problems with a Word file, sometimes I simply copy all the text except the last paragraph mark and paste it in a new file. You might lose some of the formatting but it may solve the accessibility problem.
HTH

Marie-Céline


I completely forgot about this trick. Of course! I saved the doc as rtf document, opened it in a separate application, selected all, copied and then pasted to a new word document. The text even has roughly the same layout. Brilliant!

Cheers!
Burrell


 
Piotr Bienkowski
Piotr Bienkowski  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 18:20
English to Polish
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Use OpenOffice.org Writer Nov 11, 2005

Burrell wrote:

I have a word dicument which seemingly is protected (as there is an option "unprotect" in tools), although the client says nobody has ever protected it and they do not have a pasword. As a result I cannot edit the text and use Trados.
I thought I will convert it to pdf and then back to word doc via Fine Reader. However my Adobe Acrobat 6 Prof freezes every time it starts converting this document.
Any other ideas?

Thanks in advance,
Burrell


OpenOffice.org is free, and the Writer module can both unprotect a Word DOC when you don't know the password (I always do that when I get locked documents which I otherwise would not be able to import into a CAT), plus, it can create a PDF, when you use the File > Export to PDF option.



HTH

Piotr


 
Ines Burrell
Ines Burrell  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:20
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English to Latvian
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TOPIC STARTER
Thanks Piotr! Nov 11, 2005

Piotr Bienkowski wrote:

OpenOffice.org is free, and the Writer module can both unprotect a Word DOC when you don't know the password (I always do that when I get locked documents which I otherwise would not be able to import into a CAT), plus, it can create a PDF, when you use the File > Export to PDF option.



HTH

Piotr



I will definitely keep this in mind next time. Great advice!

Burrell


 


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Cannot convert word doc to pdf






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