PDF to XML conversion
Karen Field
Anyone know anything about converting PDF docs to XML? Is this even
possible? Is it possible to convert Word docs to XML?
Thanks.
Karen Field
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Michael Smith
| Anyone know anything about converting PDF docs to XML? Is this
| even possible? Is it possible to convert Word docs to XML?
Both are possible, but depending on the nature and number of
documents you need to convert, you many find that it's something
for which you'll want to get some consulting/outsourcing help.
One company I know of that has made this a specific focus of their
XML services offerings is Texterity. You may want to take a look
at their TextCafe site <http://www.textcafe.com>.
They have a simple form you can use to submit/upload a file you'd
like to convert to XML. Once they've taken a look the file,
they'll give you a free quote on conversions costs. (Although the
form only mentions converting PDFs, I'm sure they can also give
you a quote on any Word document your upload.) I think any other
XML consulting organization that offers conversion services ought
to be able to do the same thing for you.
The main issue with converting a document from PDF, Word, or
anything else to XML is that you're going from a format without
much explicit structure to a format which is purely structural.
So the challenge is to expose whatever structure the document has
in its current form so that you can automate the conversion as
much as possible.
For example, if a Word document you want to convert is already
formatted with logical paragraph and character styles, it's going
to simplify automation of the conversion quite a bit. If, on the
other hand, the differences between headings, etc. in the document
are only implied or apparent through differences in character
styles, indentation, and so on, then automating the conversion is
going to be much more difficult or even impossible.
You also need to keep in mind that without adding a human step to
the pre- or post-processing (that is, without doing manual tagging
of some kind), you're just going to end up with XML that's only as
structured as the Word or PDF documents you start with. So if your
source documents lack a discernible, usable structure, then your
XML will also.
-- Mike Smith
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Yaacov Garber
There is a product call SmartCode Framework made by Information Architects
(http://www.ia.com/). This should solve your PDF to XML conversion
problems. I haven't had a need to use it myself but I have heard good thing
about it.
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Yaacov Garber
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paulp...@my-deja.com
l#GTS...@lists.raycomm.com>,
Karen Field <kfi...@STELLCOM.com> wrote:
> Greetings one and all...
>
> Anyone know anything about converting PDF docs to XML? Is this even
> possible? Is it possible to convert Word docs to XML?
>
>
> Karen Field
>
Howdi Karen!
The problem is that xml does not care about the _look_ of your content
but the context. But how should any converter know about the context?
It can just identify different contents via the way it is displayed,
there is no way to re-contextualize. So, it will mostly be the best to
work with the origin the pdf was made from (best case: quark express or
something).
if you do not have something like that, there is one last chance: the
www.textcafe.com. I did not try their converter yet, but I do not think
it can bring miracles to you. Good luck!
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