Why Does Cropped PDF Content Still Appear When Searching?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the issue of cropping PDF files that contain images, specifically addressing the persistence of invisible text or metadata when searching within the cropped PDF. Participants explore various methods for cropping and converting PDFs to eliminate unwanted remnants while maintaining image quality.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested
  • Experimental/applied

Main Points Raised

  • One participant describes their experience cropping a PDF containing a picture but finds that invisible text still appears when searching, raising the question of how to completely crop a PDF.
  • Another participant suggests using the snapshot tool in a PDF reader to select the image, paste it into an image editor, and save it as an image file to avoid PDF remnants.
  • A different participant recommends using Adobe Acrobat Professional's cropping feature, but notes that searching for text from the original PDF still results in visible markers in the compiled document.
  • One participant proposes converting the PDF to a lossless image format like TIFF after cropping to eliminate metadata, while another expresses concerns about the quality of their original image.
  • A later reply mentions a solution involving saving the cropped PDF as an EPS file before converting it back to PDF, which reportedly resolves the issue of residual metadata.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing opinions on the best method to completely crop a PDF and eliminate invisible text. While some suggest conversion methods, others prefer using built-in cropping tools. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the most effective approach.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include the quality of the original images and the effectiveness of various cropping methods, which may depend on specific software capabilities and user experience.

Rajini
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Dear all,
i just need to know the correct way to crop a pdf file, which contains a picture.
I already cropped so that i select only the picture...but after saving and including in a latex document...everything worked fine...
But when i search for some words...they still appear as invisible!
For e.g., the pdf file that i cropped has some paragraph...When i search some word (it may be in the un-cropped pdf file,,,it is also showing, actually not showing the word but it is selects some space in the document..
is there a way to crop completely...??
thanks
 
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Rajini said:
i just need to know the correct way to crop a pdf file, which contains a picture. is there a way to crop completely...??
How did you crop it? What format did you save it in?

Just use the snapshot tool in reader to select the image, paste it into paint, change the paint window to the right size, and save it as an image (BMP, JPEG, ETC.) Use the image file in your latex doc. You should lose all the PDF remnants that way.

Converting the pdf to an image, then cropping the image (and saving the cropped image as an image) should also work. imagemagick would work for that. I have also just learned that you can copy the pdf into paint and just crop the image that way.
 
Hi,
If you open a pdf file using adobe acrobat professional you can crop it..After opening the pdf file just go to 'Document' then 'Crop pages'..There using crop option you can cut to desired cutting boundary and then save the pdf..After saving when you open you will get only the cropped part. After cropping i included the image pdf file into my latex document. After compiling it worked fine..But in case if i search for a text (let us say: the same word from uncropped pdf file) in the compiled pdf document, it is showing as a blue mark. And i want to avoid these blue marks.
The schematic figures in that pdf is really good (vector type image). So i don't want to convert it to jpeg or bmp, etc and then crop and then reconvert it to pdf (but this pdf is of not good quality).
Do you understand my problem..If not i can send you a sample file of one page.
Thanks
 
Rajini said:
Do you understand my problem..If not i can send you a sample file of one page.

I do, but conversion's the best way I can think of to absolutely ditch all the pdf metadate/text/remnants. You can always save to image to another lossless type (like TIFF).
 
Hi story645,
i solved the problem...[i tried with tiff..but still not good..reason: my image is already a bad one].
May be helpful for others:
After cropping the pdf, then 'save as' in eps format then convert again to pdf..
Now in the newly converted pdf if you look at crop option (i said in my previous reply) you will see all are set to zero..
thanks you
 

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