Searching in a PDF document

[Andrew_Wiegert@adobeforums.com]

I have some CAD drawings that I've printed to a PDF format. When I use the 'Search' button in Acrobat it can't find the text. None of the help menus seem to explain why these drawings are not searchable.

[W_T_Allen@adobeforums.com]

Depending on the source application, the moethod of conversion, and the conversion settings, the "text" may or may not be acutal text, it may simply be vectors objects that look like text.

Please detail your workflow for creating the PDFs, including all applications, settings, and versions.

[W_T_Allen@adobeforums.com]

Or, even better, post one on the web for us to take a look at.

If you don't have anywhere to post it, zip and email it to me (assuming it's under 2 MB or so when zipped) at

allen
at
cerp
dot
net

and I'll post it for everybody to take a look at.

Put "PDF" somewhere in the filename so I'll know it's not junk mail.

[Ben_Marchbanks@adobeforums.com]

If you cannot select the text in the PDF using the text selection tool
the text is not a true text object - if you can select it then it could be an issue of the font.

I have seen certain fonts render text unrecognizable by search.

[Andrew_Wiegert@adobeforums.com]

I can't use the text selection tool to highlight text in the PDF drawings. DARN!! Are there any apps that let you do that in a CAD drawing??

[W_T_Allen@adobeforums.com]

Here is the example drawing Andrew sent me:

<http://hob.allens.com/pdf/20040520_cad_text.pdf>

That text is, indeed, not really "text," but just regular vector lines. What application was that PDF made from? AutoCAD R14 cannot output actual text, but I know for a fact that 2002 and 2004 can and I'm 99% sure 2000 can.