I regularly encounter forms that are available in PDF format. Unhelpfully,
they have not been created with editable input fields (where such fields
would be expected). I have in the past printed hard copies of the forms and
filled them in manually. I am now advised that a way to complete them
on-screen would be to import the files into a Word document, then create
blank text boxes located over the input fields and bring the text boxes
permanently to the front. I fall at the first hurdle, however, because I
cannot find a way to import the PDF document into a Word file. Help,
please?

Office XP 2002

Thanks

--
Return email address is not as DEEP as it appears

OK, have a solution of sorts, but still some problems:

Solution requires opening the PDF file in Acrobat reader, and printing to
Fax driver, which permits saving the output as a BMP file.
Then in Word, import the BMP file as a picture. Reduce all page margins to
zero and drag the picture to maximise its size within the page, preserving
aspect ratio.
I lose the colours, but I expect there is a way around that by configuring
the fax driver, and if not I can live with it.

Remaining problem seems to be in manipulating the text boxes so that they
sit over the input fields accurately. There are two problems:

1) In resizing and moving the text boxes, there seems to be some sort of
"snap-to-grid" option enabled and I cannot work out how to disable it so as
to fine-tune the positioning of the text boxes (the implied "grid" is too
widely spaced).

2) When I try to drag the text box around the page it leaps about to
unpredictable locations that have no apparent relationship to where I move
the mouse. I can overcome it by using the bar at the extreme left of the
screen to drag the top and bottom of the text box, but it is not an ideal
solution.

The whole thing seems unwieldy, and I guess I am doing something wrong. It
all looked to go pearshaped when I first created a text box and it prompted
me to do it in a canvass that was outside the location of the picture image.

"Jack Sheet" wrote in message
...
I regularly encounter forms that are available in PDF format.
Unhelpfully,
they have not been created with editable input fields (where such fields
would be expected). I have in the past printed hard copies of the forms
and
filled them in manually. I am now advised that a way to complete them
on-screen would be to import the files into a Word document, then create
blank text boxes located over the input fields and bring the text boxes
permanently to the front. I fall at the first hurdle, however, because I
cannot find a way to import the PDF document into a Word file. Help,
please?

Office XP 2002

Thanks

--
Return email address is not as DEEP as it appears

Word has no means of importing PDF files.

1. Use a table (or tables) rather than text boxes.
2. The grid is set from the drawing toolbar
3. Faxes don't normally do colour!
4. You can turn off the drawing canvas from tools options.
5. It sounds as though you are inserting text boxes in line, in which case
they behave like (large) text characters.

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org




Jack Sheet wrote:
OK, have a solution of sorts, but still some problems:

Solution requires opening the PDF file in Acrobat reader, and
printing to Fax driver, which permits saving the output as a BMP file.
Then in Word, import the BMP file as a picture. Reduce all page
margins to zero and drag the picture to maximise its size within the
page, preserving aspect ratio.
I lose the colours, but I expect there is a way around that by
configuring the fax driver, and if not I can live with it.

Remaining problem seems to be in manipulating the text boxes so that
they sit over the input fields accurately. There are two problems:

1) In resizing and moving the text boxes, there seems to be some sort
of "snap-to-grid" option enabled and I cannot work out how to disable
it so as to fine-tune the positioning of the text boxes (the implied
"grid" is too widely spaced).

2) When I try to drag the text box around the page it leaps about to
unpredictable locations that have no apparent relationship to where I
move the mouse. I can overcome it by using the bar at the extreme
left of the screen to drag the top and bottom of the text box, but it
is not an ideal solution.

The whole thing seems unwieldy, and I guess I am doing something
wrong. It all looked to go pearshaped when I first created a text
box and it prompted me to do it in a canvass that was outside the
location of the picture image.

"Jack Sheet" wrote in message
...
I regularly encounter forms that are available in PDF format.
Unhelpfully, they have not been created with editable input fields
(where such fields would be expected). I have in the past printed
hard copies of the forms and filled them in manually. I am now
advised that a way to complete them on-screen would be to import the
files into a Word document, then create blank text boxes located
over the input fields and bring the text boxes permanently to the
front. I fall at the first hurdle, however, because I cannot find a
way to import the PDF document into a Word file. Help, please?

Office XP 2002

Thanks

--
Return email address is not as DEEP as it appears

Thanks Graham
I had a play around before your response and got close to the required
solution by sticking with text boxes as follows (but I will try your
suggestion as am still not happy with it):

My kludgy solution was to create a single text box of the same size and
location as, and superimposed onto, the whole of the BMP image contained in
the Word document. Then format the text box so that borders are invisible
and the box is 100% transparent and brought to the front. Reduce line
spacing, margins etc within the text box to zero. Reduce the font size to
as small as can be lived with. Fill the entire text box with space
characters. Turn editing from insert mode to overstrike mode, then click
the mouse into the area required and type away.

"Graham Mayor" wrote in message
...
Word has no means of importing PDF files.

1. Use a table (or tables) rather than text boxes.
2. The grid is set from the drawing toolbar
3. Faxes don't normally do colour!
4. You can turn off the drawing canvas from tools options.
5. It sounds as though you are inserting text boxes in line, in which case
they behave like (large) text characters.

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org




Jack Sheet wrote:
OK, have a solution of sorts, but still some problems:

Solution requires opening the PDF file in Acrobat reader, and
printing to Fax driver, which permits saving the output as a BMP file.
Then in Word, import the BMP file as a picture. Reduce all page
margins to zero and drag the picture to maximise its size within the
page, preserving aspect ratio.
I lose the colours, but I expect there is a way around that by
configuring the fax driver, and if not I can live with it.

Remaining problem seems to be in manipulating the text boxes so that
they sit over the input fields accurately. There are two problems:

1) In resizing and moving the text boxes, there seems to be some sort
of "snap-to-grid" option enabled and I cannot work out how to disable
it so as to fine-tune the positioning of the text boxes (the implied
"grid" is too widely spaced).

2) When I try to drag the text box around the page it leaps about to
unpredictable locations that have no apparent relationship to where I
move the mouse. I can overcome it by using the bar at the extreme
left of the screen to drag the top and bottom of the text box, but it
is not an ideal solution.

The whole thing seems unwieldy, and I guess I am doing something
wrong. It all looked to go pearshaped when I first created a text
box and it prompted me to do it in a canvass that was outside the
location of the picture image.

"Jack Sheet" wrote in message
...
I regularly encounter forms that are available in PDF format.
Unhelpfully, they have not been created with editable input fields
(where such fields would be expected). I have in the past printed
hard copies of the forms and filled them in manually. I am now
advised that a way to complete them on-screen would be to import the
files into a Word document, then create blank text boxes located
over the input fields and bring the text boxes permanently to the
front. I fall at the first hurdle, however, because I cannot find a
way to import the PDF document into a Word file. Help, please?

Office XP 2002

Thanks

--
Return email address is not as DEEP as it appears

Get the most recent version of Adobe's readyer (7.x?).
You have to do text & graphics separately, but you can
"select all" and then copy\paste it into a Word
document.

There are also free PDF converters; search on google.



"Jack Sheet" wrote
in message
...
Thanks Graham
I had a play around before your response and got
close to the required
solution by sticking with text boxes as follows (but
I will try your
suggestion as am still not happy with it):

My kludgy solution was to create a single text box of
the same size and
location as, and superimposed onto, the whole of the
BMP image contained in
the Word document. Then format the text box so that
borders are invisible
and the box is 100% transparent and brought to the
front. Reduce line
spacing, margins etc within the text box to zero.
Reduce the font size to
as small as can be lived with. Fill the entire text
box with space
characters. Turn editing from insert mode to
overstrike mode, then click
the mouse into the area required and type away.

"Graham Mayor" wrote in
message
...
Word has no means of importing PDF files.

1. Use a table (or tables) rather than text boxes.
2. The grid is set from the drawing toolbar
3. Faxes don't normally do colour!
4. You can turn off the drawing canvas from tools
options.
5. It sounds as though you are inserting text boxes
in line, in which case
they behave like (large) text characters.

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org




Jack Sheet wrote:
OK, have a solution of sorts, but still some
problems:

Solution requires opening the PDF file in Acrobat
reader, and
printing to Fax driver, which permits saving the
output as a BMP file.
Then in Word, import the BMP file as a picture.
Reduce all page
margins to zero and drag the picture to maximise
its size within the
page, preserving aspect ratio.
I lose the colours, but I expect there is a way
around that by
configuring the fax driver, and if not I can live
with it.

Remaining problem seems to be in manipulating the
text boxes so that
they sit over the input fields accurately. There
are two problems:

1) In resizing and moving the text boxes, there
seems to be some sort
of "snap-to-grid" option enabled and I cannot work
out how to disable
it so as to fine-tune the positioning of the text
boxes (the implied
"grid" is too widely spaced).

2) When I try to drag the text box around the page
it leaps about to
unpredictable locations that have no apparent
relationship to where I
move the mouse. I can overcome it by using the
bar at the extreme
left of the screen to drag the top and bottom of
the text box, but it
is not an ideal solution.

The whole thing seems unwieldy, and I guess I am
doing something
wrong. It all looked to go pearshaped when I
first created a text
box and it prompted me to do it in a canvass that
was outside the
location of the picture image.

"Jack Sheet"
wrote in message
...
I regularly encounter forms that are available in
PDF format.
Unhelpfully, they have not been created with
editable input fields
(where such fields would be expected). I have in
the past printed
hard copies of the forms and filled them in
manually. I am now
advised that a way to complete them on-screen
would be to import the
files into a Word document, then create blank
text boxes located
over the input fields and bring the text boxes
permanently to the
front. I fall at the first hurdle, however,
because I cannot find a
way to import the PDF document into a Word file.
Help, please?

Office XP 2002

Thanks

--
Return email address is not as DEEP as it appears

When I try this, I get a little blue box is all
John



"PopS" wrote in message
...
Get the most recent version of Adobe's readyer (7.x?). You have to do text
& graphics separately, but you can "select all" and then copy\paste it
into a Word document.

There are also free PDF converters; search on google.



"Jack Sheet" wrote in message
...
Thanks Graham
I had a play around before your response and got close to the required
solution by sticking with text boxes as follows (but I will try your
suggestion as am still not happy with it):

My kludgy solution was to create a single text box of the same size and
location as, and superimposed onto, the whole of the BMP image contained
in
the Word document. Then format the text box so that borders are
invisible
and the box is 100% transparent and brought to the front. Reduce line
spacing, margins etc within the text box to zero. Reduce the font size to
as small as can be lived with. Fill the entire text box with space
characters. Turn editing from insert mode to overstrike mode, then click
the mouse into the area required and type away.

"Graham Mayor" wrote in message
...
Word has no means of importing PDF files.

1. Use a table (or tables) rather than text boxes.
2. The grid is set from the drawing toolbar
3. Faxes don't normally do colour!
4. You can turn off the drawing canvas from tools options.
5. It sounds as though you are inserting text boxes in line, in which
case
they behave like (large) text characters.

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org




Jack Sheet wrote:
OK, have a solution of sorts, but still some problems:

Solution requires opening the PDF file in Acrobat reader, and
printing to Fax driver, which permits saving the output as a BMP file.
Then in Word, import the BMP file as a picture. Reduce all page
margins to zero and drag the picture to maximise its size within the
page, preserving aspect ratio.
I lose the colours, but I expect there is a way around that by
configuring the fax driver, and if not I can live with it.

Remaining problem seems to be in manipulating the text boxes so that
they sit over the input fields accurately. There are two problems:

1) In resizing and moving the text boxes, there seems to be some sort
of "snap-to-grid" option enabled and I cannot work out how to disable
it so as to fine-tune the positioning of the text boxes (the implied
"grid" is too widely spaced).

2) When I try to drag the text box around the page it leaps about to
unpredictable locations that have no apparent relationship to where I
move the mouse. I can overcome it by using the bar at the extreme
left of the screen to drag the top and bottom of the text box, but it
is not an ideal solution.

The whole thing seems unwieldy, and I guess I am doing something
wrong. It all looked to go pearshaped when I first created a text
box and it prompted me to do it in a canvass that was outside the
location of the picture image.

"Jack Sheet" wrote in message
...
I regularly encounter forms that are available in PDF format.
Unhelpfully, they have not been created with editable input fields
(where such fields would be expected). I have in the past printed
hard copies of the forms and filled them in manually. I am now
advised that a way to complete them on-screen would be to import the
files into a Word document, then create blank text boxes located
over the input fields and bring the text boxes permanently to the
front. I fall at the first hurdle, however, because I cannot find a
way to import the PDF document into a Word file. Help, please?

Office XP 2002

Thanks

--
Return email address is not as DEEP as it appears

This method would be a little hit and miss depending on th security level
set in the pdf. The only ways to get pdf into Word are to use a converter
such as Acrobat (the full version) or one of its cheaper clones (suggestions
linked from the favourites page of my web site)
or
to output the pdf (assuming printing is not inhibited) to a graphics format
using a tool like SnagIt www.techsmith.com

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org




JohnR wrote:
When I try this, I get a little blue box is all
John



"PopS" wrote in message
...
Get the most recent version of Adobe's readyer (7.x?). You have to
do text & graphics separately, but you can "select all" and then
copy\paste it into a Word document.

There are also free PDF converters; search on google.



"Jack Sheet" wrote in message
...
Thanks Graham
I had a play around before your response and got close to the
required solution by sticking with text boxes as follows (but I
will try your suggestion as am still not happy with it):

My kludgy solution was to create a single text box of the same size
and location as, and superimposed onto, the whole of the BMP image
contained in
the Word document. Then format the text box so that borders are
invisible
and the box is 100% transparent and brought to the front. Reduce
line spacing, margins etc within the text box to zero. Reduce the
font size to as small as can be lived with. Fill the entire text
box with space characters. Turn editing from insert mode to
overstrike mode, then click the mouse into the area required and
type away.

"Graham Mayor" wrote in message
...
Word has no means of importing PDF files.

1. Use a table (or tables) rather than text boxes.
2. The grid is set from the drawing toolbar
3. Faxes don't normally do colour!
4. You can turn off the drawing canvas from tools options.
5. It sounds as though you are inserting text boxes in line, in
which case
they behave like (large) text characters.

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org




Jack Sheet wrote:
OK, have a solution of sorts, but still some problems:

Solution requires opening the PDF file in Acrobat reader, and
printing to Fax driver, which permits saving the output as a BMP
file. Then in Word, import the BMP file as a picture. Reduce all
page margins to zero and drag the picture to maximise its size
within the page, preserving aspect ratio.
I lose the colours, but I expect there is a way around that by
configuring the fax driver, and if not I can live with it.

Remaining problem seems to be in manipulating the text boxes so
that they sit over the input fields accurately. There are two
problems:

1) In resizing and moving the text boxes, there seems to be some
sort of "snap-to-grid" option enabled and I cannot work out how
to disable it so as to fine-tune the positioning of the text
boxes (the implied "grid" is too widely spaced).

2) When I try to drag the text box around the page it leaps about
to unpredictable locations that have no apparent relationship to
where I move the mouse. I can overcome it by using the bar at
the extreme left of the screen to drag the top and bottom of the
text box, but it is not an ideal solution.

The whole thing seems unwieldy, and I guess I am doing something
wrong. It all looked to go pearshaped when I first created a text
box and it prompted me to do it in a canvass that was outside the
location of the picture image.

"Jack Sheet" wrote in message
...
I regularly encounter forms that are available in PDF format.
Unhelpfully, they have not been created with editable input
fields (where such fields would be expected). I have in the
past printed hard copies of the forms and filled them in
manually. I am now advised that a way to complete them
on-screen would be to import the files into a Word document,
then create blank text boxes located over the input fields and
bring the text boxes permanently to the front. I fall at the
first hurdle, however, because I cannot find a way to import the
PDF document into a Word file. Help, please?

Office XP 2002

Thanks

--
Return email address is not as DEEP as it appears