NNELS

Hi all,

I am looking for tools to read PDF files and would like to hear about everyone's experience, what programs you use and how they work with your screen readers.

I know that a lot will depend on how the PDF file is produced, wheteher it is tagged, has headings, etc. In Windows, I mostly use Acrobat Reader and Sumatra PDF. They are okay, but for larger files, it is not always easy for me to find and copy text (even if the file is not protected); if I have to read a large PDF file, I usually convert it to a Word file using Kurzweil, but I don't think that this is the most efficient way to do it. If you know of tools to convert PDF files to other formats (besides Calibre), please let me know. In the past I tried to use Calibre but it was not accessible at all, I will try again.

In Mac I mostly use Preview, but I find that navigation is not very good, even if the original file has headings.

Thanks in advance.

Kurzweil allows you to read PDF files. In Adobe, just go to the print menu, and their should be a reading printer that Kurzweil should be able to use to open up the document.

Like you I use Kurtzwell. I haven't found anything better. I have a friend who loves Abbi reader. I have played with the OCR in JAWS but that is very limited. You can not manipulate text if you want or need to.
I am interested in what others have to say.

I currently use K1000 but ABBY Fine reader Pro works just as well. A friend told me that the fine reader OCR engine that's being used in K1000 might not be the same or as good as the one that's used in Fine Reader Pro so if you don't need all the extra features of K1000 and want something that does excellent OCR, Fine Reader Pro is a good option.

On the PC, I have also tried doc you scan for reading PDF files. It works quite well, but it does strip away the graphics so the output file is strictly text. It also has a Mac version. I also haven’t had much luck using preview on the Mac to read PDF files.