Using PDF files as the source for a translation is always challenging, especially with documents that have a non-linear text flow like brochures and presentations.
Our standard policy is to ask our clients to send the original file that was used to produce the PDF file that they want us to translate. This is usually the best option and allows us to deliver a translated document that is editable with the same program that was used to produce the original (although I do not like working with the verbose “tag soup” produced by XPress or InDesign converters and would sometimes rather convert the PDF to Word when dealing with these two translator-unfriendly formats).
Freewaregenius has published a review about PDF to Word Free. Here is a short excerpt
[…] in terms of conversion quality this is hands down the best free PDF to DOC/RTF converter that I have seen; there is simply nothing that comes close.
The service is still in private beta. The freewaregenius review contains an invite code that may allow you to join the program.
Update: Lifehacker also posted a review about PDF-to-Word. One piece of information that is added by this review is the fact that the service actually performs an OCR extraction of the source file. So the conversion to Word allows to extract text from those lousy “static” (non-editable) PDF files that contain text pages pasted as images (yes, sadly we sometimes receive that sort of file from clients). Lifehacker also offers an invite code to test the service.
Update 2: as pointed out by readers on the LifeHacker blog and on this MemoQ forum thread, PDFtoWord does not perform any OCR.
PDF to Word Free: a web service that delivers free, high quality PDF to DOC conversions | freewaregenius.com
PDF-to-Word Converter Pulls Readable Text from Scanned Images
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Great post! But online PDF to Word converter are not that stable and reliable as desktop converter. And most of them don’t support encrypted PDF conversion. So when it comes to PDF conversion, I’ll recommend Anybizsoft PDF to
Word converter, which supports batch and partial conversion, even protected PDF can be converted. The ouput quality is quite good,no weired textboxes and overlapped.
Hy Mary Rose,
thank for your comment and recommendation.
For translators looking for simple OCR service for casual use and shorter files, I’d like to add two online services to the ones mentioned above:
http://www.ocrterminal.com/
http://www.onlineocr.net/