Searchable print-to-PDF

[TC3922]

Hi,

I've noticed that printing-to-PDF with Palemoon does not consistently create searchable pdf files, in contrast to Firefox, Opera, and IExplorer.

For example, see this online article:

https://www.heraldnet.com/news/driver-w ... idnt-stop/

When I print it to PDF from Palemoon, the resulting file is not searchable.

But it IS searchable when I print it to PDF from Firefox, Opera, and IExplorer.

Am I doing something wrong, or is the the print-to-PDF feature in Palemoon less capable than in those other browsers?

If the latter, can this be remedied?

Thank you -

[Moonchild]

It depends entirely on which plugin you use to "print to PDF" because that's not a core feature of Pale Moon.

[TC3922]

I was using browser-independent PDF printers (doPDF, Adobe pdf, etc.), not plugins.

What Palemoon plugin will create searchable pdf files from webpages?

[LAR Grizzly]

What Palemoon plugin will create searchable pdf files from webpages?

PDF Creator installs a ghost printer on your system and can be used to "print" a web page through PM. I just "printed" this thread to .pdf and it is searchable. I'm using PDF Creator 1.7.3.

[TC3922]

Thanks - yes, printing THIS forum page to pdf (using doPDF and Acrobat pdf printer) results in a searchable file as well.

The problem (at least in my experience) is that many other pages do NOT print to a searchable pdf.

For example, try printing:

https://www.heraldnet.com/news/driver-w ... idnt-stop/

When I print that page to pdf, the resulting pdf file is not searchable.

The same is partially true for Amazon pages: the comments are not searchable.

A partial solution is to use the "print pages to pdf" addon:

http://printpagestopdf.hol.es/index.php ... _page.html

That addon does create searchable files, but (1) the quality is poor compared to files created with doPDF or Acrobat, and (2) it takes much longer to print.

I'm hoping that there is something that can be tweaked in Palemoon that will allow external pdf printers such as doPDF and Acrobat pdf to (always) create searchable pdfs like they do in Firefox, Opera, and IExplorer.

[LAR Grizzly]

For example, try printing:

https://www.heraldnet.com/news/driver-w ... idnt-stop/

When I print that page to pdf, the resulting pdf file is not searchable.

I "printed" the page in your link and it's searchable with Adobe Reader 11.0.23. I "printed" it with PDF Creator 1.7.3. I've attached the file if you care to check it out.

[TC3922]

Thanks. I downloaded and tried the latest free version of pdfcreator (3.1.2) from pdfforge, but for me it won't create a searchable pdf of that webpage ( https://www.heraldnet.com/news/driver-w ... idnt-stop/ ), or of the comments on any Amazon webpage.

I wonder if they've limited the free features since v. 1.7.3?

[LAR Grizzly]

I wonder if they've limited the free features since v. 1.7.3?

I PM'd you with a link to my v1.7.3 installer if you want to try it out. Here's the file on Filepuma. I printed this Amazon page and it's searchable (even the comments):

https://www.amazon.com/Universal-Water- ... 00C49FSDO/

I've attached the file if you want to check it.

[TC3922]

Thank you. I tried that link, but Avira detected some type of virus, cleaned it up, and the file disappeared.

[Giraffe]

Just printed the Herald page from PM via pdf Factory Pro (costs money ), opened it in PDF-Xchange Editor (free ) and it was searchable.

The other problem is keeping links 'live' in a PDF. I often copy and paste to a blank page and the links are 'dead' in the immage.

[LAR Grizzly]

Thank you. I tried that link, but Avira detected some type of virus, cleaned it up, and the file disappeared.

I think Avira is giving you a false positive. I downloaded it with no detections from COMODO.

The file link I Personal Messaged you is a copy of my installer and it's clean (I zipped it to prevent corruption).

[tpcsanh]

TC3922,

Under Preferences - Content - Fonts & Colors - Advanced: disable Allow pages to choose their own fonts ...

Here, when the above is disabled, AdobePDF creates a searchable PDF from the link you provided.

[TC3922]

Thank you all very much for your help!

The solution suggested by tpcsanh (thanks!) appears to have solved the problem. Disabling "allow pages to choose their own fonts" seems to enable standard pdf printers to create searchable pdf files of any webpage (so far at least).

Awesome!

I have another tangentially related question. Maybe I should create a new thread, but I'll post it here anyway.

Sometimes when printing a webpage to pdf, the resulting file doesn't include certain features and formatting characteristics of the webpage. For example, a "floating" header will appear on every successive page, some text will cover other text, Facebook links will cover text, pictures won't be included, etc.

For example, the header on Yahoo news appears on every page, and the social media links cover the headline. At least this is the case when I print the page to pdf:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-says-i ... 32729.html

Sometimes I can use the "print edit" extension to remove the offending features, but this doesn't work all the time, and is also time-consuming.

Any suggestions as to what to use (preferably free, but not-free is ok if the price is reasonable and purchase gets you ownership not a term-limited license) in these types of situations if you want to print an exact copy of an entire webpage to a pdf (ideally searchable) that is the same size as a standard 8.5x11 (A4) page (not shrunken or enlarged)?

I previously tried Fireshot, but the resulting files are not 8.5x11, are not searchable, and are poor quality (at least in the free version, and the quality degrades even further after running Acrobat "recognize text" on them). I've also tried Faststone Capture, but its too complicated for me. I've also tried various extensions that create shrunken versions of the webpage.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again.

[TC3922]

Maybe I should clarify: when I wrote that the objective is to print an exact copy of an entire webpage to a pdf (ideally searchable) that is the same size as a standard 8.5x11 (A4) page (not shrunken or enlarged), I meant that a long webpage would be printed to a single pdf file consisting of multiple 8.5x11 pages (as opposed to shrinking down a long webpage so that the entire thing fits on a single 8.5x11 page).

[tpcsanh]

I use the print edit extension. Time consuming ... can be (practice is helpful). It depends on what one wants as the results. For me ... a couple of selects, deletes, and I have the results I am looking for. Note: I am not looking for an exact replica of the web page.

[LAR Grizzly]

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