I hate to bring such a technical question here but I'm sure one of you would know if this is at all possible:

Is it possible to convert a pdf file into a word file?

If yes, how would I go about it? ( feel free to explain as if I was a total illiterate, since I'm one on this subject :( )

Yes you can do that but you will lose any formatting in the document.
1.Open the document with Adobe Acrobat Reader
2.Right click on the document and click on "select all"
3. Then under the "file" drop down menu "Save as Text" - it will give the file a name or you can make a name of your choosing.
4. Open Word and them look for the file. You may have to change the drop down for type of file from .doc to .txt file so it can find it.

Hope that helps

Actually, you don't need step 2. You can just do steps 1, 3, and 4.

But possibly more importantly, Maria, why do you want to convert a pdf file to a word file? As Kathy has pointed out, you will lose all formatting and graphics by doing this. If you need to edit the file, there may be better ways of doing it ...

Masaki

Hi Kathy and Masaki,

First, let me thank you for explaining the above. I already tried it and it worked.

Masaki,

I've been asked to do a translation from english to spanish of a document that was sent to me in PDF format but they want the translation sent to them in Word. Also, I needed some sort of word count and I know I can do that within Word. I'll need to talk with the person who sent this to me to get a clearer idea of how she wants the translated document to look. I usually get documents to be translated in Word so never had to deal with this PDF to Word issue.

Thanks again!!

Ah, then the technique mentioned above should work well for that need. :) Thanks for the clarification!

Masaki

Glad to help. Didn't realize the save to text would do it without #2 but I was trying to cut and paste - duh!

Okay--here's very low tech question. How do I open a notebook attachment to an email??? Can't do it. Noone in my neighborhood can tell me how it works, either. Al I get is a blank page or a lot of gobbledegook. Thanks for any help.

Jean,

Need more information than you gave us. Was it an email attachment from an Email on the notebook computer? The gobbledegook is probably code because it was opened by the wrong program.

What is the name of the file and the last three letters of the name of the attachment ( for example photo.jpg) JPG is the type of file and that tells you often what kind of program can use that particular file.

Oh, oh, oh, Kathy - you are getting way over my head! What I get are email jokes, usually, from friends, with an attachment. When I click on the paperclip I get a blank page or a page full of code, as you call it. I can't convert it into anything sensible. A friend told me that the sender didn't send it correctly in all probability.

Jean, sometimes Suzanne sends me jokes or little films that I can't retrieve when I click on the link or attachment. I feel like I am missing something, but usually I just drop it because I know that most of them I get and really enjoy! It is awful to be so technically challenged like I am that for something like this, it is just too much trouble to figure out.

Well, Olivia, I really don't care about what I'm missing. It's just that I want to know HOW TO DO THINGS!! Today, a friend sent me pictures of doggies she thought I'd love to see, but, doggone, it was one of these notebook attachments! So I didn't see what was so cute. Oh, well.

Guess you're right, Joanna, that it's between Karen and me. I just think the doggie picture is too big and I'd rather it was small like the avatar size. I notice you don't have any picture--how come?? I mean under your name!

Jean, when I reach 70 like you and Clyde (not too far off as the next one is 60) I beg the Lord that I will have your curiosity and the need to still be on "top" of things! You should see the titles to some of the stuff Suzanne sends me, it is definitely not doggies, but it is always funny and only a little risque! My kids in their 20's love it when Mom forwards these things along! Can't wait to see you all again....I guess the next time will be MUSH, sort of like a MINT reunion, unless Anthony gets something together beforehand.

Jean, my guess is she sent you multiple files in a folder. Then you download the whole folder and you have a slideshow of the photos.

If you aren't very computer savvy, it's a BAD idea to open those folders. They can contain spyware, virus' and other dangerous things that can wipe out your whole computer. They are usually masked by the sender as being from someone you know.

well now that you guys mentioned it.. I have a burning q for you techies..
when someone sends you something (email etc).. and then the box comes up asking how do you want to open that file and a whole list of ways to do it shows up.... How the heck do you know which one to use? I have never had a clue, so always choose wrong and then get the message can't open that file blah blah so wind up erasing the whole thing..
bummer

Jean, I think you need to set your computer to view html. I am not 100% sure that is your problem, maybe Masaki can confirm.


Open up your Outlook mail (if you are using aol mail, I can't help!)

At the top of your mail window, locate the "tools" button and click it. Scroll down to "options" and click that. Click the "read" tab make sure "read all messages in plain text" is not checked.
It should look like this:



If you did have a check next to that, it might explain why you see gobbelygook.

Claudia
I have found that if I use IE, I can open more files than I can on other browsers. I don't use IE as my main browser due to security issues, but it sure comes in handy at times.
Have also found that some will open if I pick "save to disk" even though they are never saved to the disk. But I think my computer is very qweird and has a mind of its own.
Beware - I am not a techie.

Claudia, when you say that someone emails you and it asks how you want program you want to open it, what are you opening? An attachment? If they send you an attachment and it's a picture, your picture viewer should open automatically for you.

Claudia - I think you are using AOL. When you download a file with File Manager, it will ask you what kind of program you want to use to read the file.

At work, I have files by client name and download the files into their folders;
At home, I have files by topics.
On both computers, I created a file called Junk and the jokes and trash go there. I can save thinks I won't need for a while and then I discard them. It helps me keep my computer files cleaned out.

You need to know what kind of file extension it has - the file extension is the three letters after the dot. (Word.doc = doc is the file extension and xxx.doc means a WORD Document). photo.jpg is a photo. So is .GIF and .TIF
.xls is an Excel file;
.pdf means open it with Adobe Acrobat Reader.
.qbw would mean a QuickBooks file, but .qbb would be a backup of a Quickbooks file.
.wpd is a WordPerfect document, but you can open that in Word too.


Most of the time you can also close that window and then find where you download the file to - then double click on the file name and the right program will open the file with out you needing to know those extension letters.

Thanks Kathy exactly what I needed to know. Appreciate it very much!

What everyone said. :)

And for video: .wmv and .mpg can be opened by Windows Media Player and .mov can be opened by Quicktime Video Player.

One warning about opening emails in HTML as opposed to text. There is a certain degree of safety about having all emails open in text compared to HTML - since you don't have to worry about malicious code with text. Also, you don't have to worry about spoofed links with text emails compared to HTML links. 'Course, you miss out on all those cool links and graphics when you open emails in text.

Masaki