PDF - highlight text with keyboard

Deutsch | Español | Français | Italiano | Português | 日本語 | 한국어 | 简体中文

This post shows how to highlight selected text in Adobe Acrobat using just the keyboard, after you select text with the keyboard.

In Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional and other versions of Acrobat, you can highlight text using the Highlight Text tool by selecting the tool, then dragging the cursor over the desired text using the mouse.

Not good enough for me. I don't want to highlight text with the mouse, I want to select text with the keyboard, then use a keyboard shortcut or hotkey to highlight the selected text.

I tried selecting text first with the keyboard (using the Select Tool and the usual Shift keyboard shortcuts), then clicking on the Highlight Text tool, but that didn't work to highlight the selected text.

The secret workaround? After selecting text with the keyboard (by holding down the Shift key then using the arrow keys, End, Home, PageUp, PageDown etc to navigate in the usual way):

• rightclick the selected text or
• use the Windows key for the rightclick context menu (usually to the immediate left of the right Ctrl key on the keyboard), or
• press Shift+F10 (ie while holding down the Shift key press and release the F10 key)

This brings up a context menu which, aha, allows you to  highlight the pre-selected text with the h key. In other words, to highlight text using only the keyboard in a PDF: select text with the keyboard, press the context menu key or Shift+F10, then press h, and voila!

Unfortunately sometimes (not always) the Select tool that lets you select text with the keyboard may vanish or turn into the Hand tool. To get the Select tool back again using the keyboard, try pressing the Esc key, or either press e (quickest, but sometimes inserts the letter e instead!) or press the context menu key or Shift+10 again and then press e. As usual, Ctrl+z is the "undo" hotkey combo, and tapping the Esc key after pressing the e helps if you find it's adding text rather then selecting them or moving the cursor when you try to use the keyboard.

This tip might seem obvious to some but it escaped me for ages, so I thought it was worth blogging this.

Nexus 7 - how to install Flash to view BBC iPlayer & other sites

Deutsch | Español | Français | Italiano | Português | 日本語 | 한국어 | 简体中文

Some websites, like BBC iPlayer, won't work on your Google / Asus Nexus 7. This post gives step by step instructions for beginners on how to get Flash on your Nexus 7 so you can watch or listen to BBC iPlayer TV or radio, and play videos or music on other websites that require Flash like Demand Five or 4od (the ITV Player app does work on the Nexus 7 but the iPlayer app isn't compatible yet).

The tips below represent the easiest solution I've found to add or enable Flash quickly on your Nexus 7, without having to "root" your device (as eg this post suggests) or take any other more complicated steps, thanks to this helpful post and others I found. (There's a risk that rooting may void your warranty.) I didn't need to install an older file Flash apk then update it to a newer one as mentioned here, it just worked with one file, the latest one.

You'll also then need to install and use a compatible browser, as the Google Chrome browser that's provided as standard with the Nexus 7 won't play Flash movies or music etc, even after you've installed Flash. I also explain how to install and use some alternative browsers, below. The problem and background are at the very end, I imagine readers will want the howto first!

How to install Flash on the Nexus 7 - the best way!

So here's the best workaround to solve the problem of Flash not working on the Nexus 7. (It's not really troubleshooting or fixing a bug, it's a workaround - for a situation that was deliberately intended by product suppliers.)

The Nexus 7 is set up as standard to let users install apps only via the Google Play Store. If you want to install an app like the Flash Player using an app installation file that you've dwnloaded, it won't let you do that - unless you change a default setting.

So we'll change that setting first, then download the Flash installation file, then install it on the device direct from the file- aka "sideloading". (In Windows, files to install programs / applications usually end with .exe or .msi - in Android, the operating system used by the Nexus 7, they end with .apk).

1. (Optional, but may make life easier)  On your Nexus s7, tap the Google Play store icon (the shopping bag icon in your Favorites tray):
   
   Search (magnifying glass icon) to find and install a file manager app like ES File Explorer File Manager, Astro File Manager or File Manager HD.
   
   (For beginners - if you view this blog post in the standard Chrome browser on your Nexus 7, tapping the links above will take you straight there, and you can then tap the Install button to install the app.)
2. Go to the Settings on your Nexus 7 - ie swipe down the notification shade from the top of the screen, and tap the Settings icon, outlined in red blow.
   
   
3. In the PERSONAL section, tap the word "Security":
   
   
4. In the Security settings screen, under the DEVICE ADMINISTRATION SECTION tick "Unknown Sources" (this is to let you install an app from a file on your Nexus 7 - otherwise, it just won't let you). Tap OK to confirm you really want to change this setting:
   
   
5. Now tap open a browser on your Nexus 7, it's easiest to use the Chrome browser that's provided as standard:
   
   
6. In your Nexus 7 browser, download the Adobe Flash Player app installation file by tapping this link (the link just given is the direct link to the file that's attached to the bottom of this helpful forum post - if tapping the direct installation file link in your browser doesn't work, you could try going to that forum post and then tapping on the com.adobe.flashplayer-2.apk link from there). A message should flash up very briefly on screen about the download.
   
   Note: here are some other links from which you may be able to download that apk file, though I've not tried them myself.
7. Now, find the downloaded apk file on your Nexus 7 and tap it to install Flash. There are two ways:
   1. Swipe down from the top of the screen to open your notification shade, then tap on the com.adobe.flashplayer-2.apk  "Download complete" notification, and tap to confirm the installation:
      
      
      OR
   2. Open the file manager you installed in step 1, browse to the Download folder (a sub-folder of the "sdcard" folder), then tap on the com.adobe.flashplayer-2.apk file and confirm the installation. Here's some screenshots using ES File Explorer:
      
      
8. Now go back to the Security settings to UNtick the "Unknown sources" setting again, see steps 2 to 2, for security. Whenever you want to install an app from an apk file in future, you can just enable that setting again, install the app, then disable it after installation.)
9. Note: if tapping the downloaded apk file in step 7 didn't work, try installing an app installer like Fast Installer, then tapping the apk file again. But it should work.

How to play media from Flash sites on the Nexus 7 - use browsers that support Flash!

To actually view Flash sites after you've installed Flash on your Nexus 7, the supplied Chrome browser won't work. That's the way it is, and Google won't be supporting Flash in its Android Chrome browser.

So you have to install a third party browser, and use that in order to view iPlayer or other sites that require Flash.

2 browsers I've tried so far work: Firefox Alpha (Mozilla Aurora) and xScope (free and paid) - hat tip. (Again, those links should take you direct to the installation pages where you can tap to install them.)

But be warned - these are all workarounds, Flash is not officially supported on Android Jelly Bean (the Nexus 7's operating system), so you need to be prepared for random crashes when browsing Flash sites, having to close and restart your browser etc - especially if you try to go to full screen mode (just resizing the page is safest), or leave the page after you've started playing the media, or even just try to pause a video.

Also, different browsers seem to play differently on different sites. So if your favourite Flash site doesn't work well with eg Firefox Beta, try Aurora or XScope etc instead. So far, iPlayer generally works well on Aurora. But different sites eg Demand Five  or 4od may be better in another browser - you just need to try them out (bearing in mind that going full screen may crash the browser, although again iPlayer in Aurora seems relatively OK).

How to use Mozilla Firefox Beta to view Flash sites

Firefox "proper" won't install from the Play Store on the Nexus 7 just yet.

But Firefox Beta, which you can install from the Play Store using that link, does work. Don't worry if you installed Firefox Beta before trying to install Flash Player - all this should still work.

I should note first though that Firefox Alpha, Aurora, seems more stable with Flash, so it may be best to use that for viewing Flash sites - I cover Aurora later, it's very similar.

To use Firefox with Flash sites, first you have to check its Settings to make sure Flash is always enabled, then you need to ensure that iPlayer and other sites won't divert you to the mobile "no Flash" version when you try to browse there.

Here are step by step instructions on how to do that:

1. Open Firefox, go to the Menu (3 vertical squares, top right) and choose Settings - outlined in blue below:
   
   
    
2. In the Settings, under the CONTENT section, tap Plugins:
   
   
    
3. Then make sure Enabled OR "Tap to play" is selected (ie NOT "Disabled"), and you can use the Back navigation button to return to the browser.
   
   What's the difference? "Tap to play" is more secure; if you pick "Enabled" and visit a malicious website it could automatically run Flash and install malware on your device. This may be more likely with desktop computers than portable devices and apparently it has never happened with Android, although malware has been disguised as an Android Flash Player. But still, if you want to play it safe, use "Tap to play" - then, you need to positively tap on the video or audio to play it, but you'd only do that on sites you trust, right..? Personally I went for "Enabled", but it's at your own risk and all that.
   
   
   
4. Highly recommended: in Firefox, browse to the Phony extension's webpage by tapping that link I gave, then tap "Add to Firefox" to install that add-on.
   1. Now, open the Firefox Menu (the 3 vertical squares), and there will be a new Phony item in the list. Tap on the Phony menu item, then under "Select User Agent" tap the word "Default":
      
      
   2. A list will open up - find "Desktop Firefox", tap on that, then tap "OK".
      
      
   3. Now go back to the Menu and choose Quit at the end to close Firefox. (That's because I found I had to restart Firefox before Phony would work.) Then re-open Firefox, and browse away on Flash sites!
5. Alternative: if you use Flash sites only occasionally and don't want to install Phony, before visiting the site you must first go to the Menu and make sure "Request Desktop Site" is ticked (outlined in red below). Then in the same tab of the browser (do NOT open a new tab), browse to BBC iPlayer or another Flash site, and Flash movies or audio should then hopefully play.
   The downside of this is that, without Phony, you must remember to tick "Request Desktop Site") every single time in a tab, before you visit a Flash site in that tab, as it won't automatically "save" that preference.
   Also, on Firefox Beta, before installing Phony and setting it to "Desktop Firefox" I couldn't get BBC iPlayer radio shows (listen again) to play at all, although it would play iPlayer television programmes.
   Finally, with BBC iPlayer at least, even after ticking "Request Desktop Site" you may have to keep trying to reload the page or going to it again via a link on a search engine results page, as sometimes it still diverts you to the annoying "not supported" page shown towards the end of this post. This doesn't happen with Phony. Which is why I highly recommend using it!
   
    
6. Note: sometimes, on some sites, you will still have to tap on the video or audio in order to kickstart Flash, even if you've selected "Enabled" instead of "Tap to play".
7. With iPlayer TV: don't use the "popup" icon (the two overlapping rectangles) as that won't work - instead, use the Full screen icon, outlined in red below:
   
   
8. Feature request: if only Mozilla would provide a setting for Firefox mobile to permanently request desktop sites so a third party add-on wasn't needed! (and in portrait view moved the Menu button to the navigation bar at the bottom - I keep hitting tabs inadvertently when trying to get to the Menu in portrait orientation!)
9. Full screen, and avoiding crashes:  updated: be patient and don't tap on the video before it has finished loading and shows the play arrow on the video itself, otherwise it may crash. Also remember, it's best generally to avoid full screen mode. Full screen may work sometimes with iPlayer, but with other UK TV sites like 4od etc, it may crash the browser, and you'll have to close it and restart it again! Workaround - the best fix to get close to full screen, from combining tips and tricks from a couple of forum postings, is this:
1. on your Nexus 7, download and install the free Full Screen add-on
2. when you need full screen, activate the add-on through the Firefox menu (you may need to scroll down the menu items list to find "Full screen")
3. start playing the video, and then double tap on the video to enlarge it almost to full screen
4. to come out of full screen, press and hold (aka "long press") on the webpage and choose "Exit" out of full screen.

How to use xScope for Flash sites

xScope (free and paid versions) is another browser option which needs fewer steps than Firefox to set up and use.

Once you've installed and opened xScope, you just need to check its Settings to make sure Flash is enabled. Here's how:

1. Go to xScope's Settings by tapping the menu icon (3 vertical squares, top right) then tap Settings:
   
   

2. On the xScope Settings page, in the "WEB PAGE" section, I chose to tick "Auto load flash" (but bear in mind the note under the Firefox Beta section above about the risks of auto-loading flash if you visit a malicious website - you have been warned!):

   
3. You  can now visit BBC iPlayer and other Flash-using sites via xScope, and Flash should just work. But note that, sometimes, as with Firefox, you do still have to tap on the video or audio in order to kickstart Flash. Or, of course, if you haven't set Flash to auto-load. And remember to avoid full screen mode. 
4. One more precaution: it might be best to stop auto-update for xScope, in case a future version of the browser comes out that disables Flash. (This is a real risk - the Dolphin browser for example no longer supports Flash, whereas an earlier version of it does, though on some pages it may crash on switching to full screen). So here's how to disable the auto-update:

   1. Open the Google Play store on your Nexus 7 (shopping bag icon, see step 1), then get to your lists of installed apps by tapping the down arrow icon at the top:

      

   2. Now in the apps list, tap on the name of the app you need to change auto-update for, in this case xScope:

      
   3. Finally, on the xScope screen in the Play store, UNtick "Allow Automatic Updating". (You can retick it again if you're absolutely sure the developer won't disable Flash support in a future release!):
      
      

 

What about other browsers, do they support Flash?

You can also use Firefox Alpha (Aurora) - just download its apk file from this page (the one that worked for me was called fennec-16.0a2.en-US.android-arm.apk - version 14 didn't work, for instance). Then install it in the same way as you installed Adobe Flash Player above, making sure you tick the "Unknown sources" security setting first, check the Flash setting, and install and set the Phony add-on as with Firefox Beta (or check "Request Desktop Site" is ticked every time before you visit a Flash site).

Here are screenshots for Firefox Aurora, it's much the same as with Beta, but it's your choice as to "Tap to play" or "Enabled", and don't forget you need to tick Request Desktop Site every single time:

An earlier version of the Dolphin browser has been mentioned above as working, and I've checked it works with iPlayer radio  - but it crashes if you try to go to full screen with iPlayer video or YouTube, and presumably other sites too. (If you already have Dolphin you should uninstall it first before installing that earlier version - go to the same screen for Dolphin as for automatic updating, above, and tap Uninstall.)

Maxthon was reported to work but for me unfortunately the HD tablet version kept crashing on trying to pause a video, or just trying to access the menu or settings. The mobile (non-HD) version of Maxthon did work, and you can also in Maxthon enable Flash automatically (via its menu - bottom right navigation bar, choose Options, Browser settings, change "Flash on demand" to "Always on") - similar to what I've shown for the browsers above. Otherwise, you'd have to tap on a Flash video or audio in order to play it.

Tip: with Maxthon mobile in landscape view, you can't see the address bar in which to type a URL - you have to swipe down the grey horizontal lines in the curve, kinda like a tab, outlined in red below:Then voila you can see the address bar!:

Unfortunately I couldn't get Flash to work in either Opera Mini or Opera Mobile.

While Puffin has been said to work, I personally wouldn't use it as (1) they've enabled Flash on the free version only for the London Olympics period, so Flash may stop working in it after that, and (2) BBC iPlayer radio works in Puffin, but if I try iPlayer TV, it won't work as the site then seems to think I'm not in the UK (whereas I am):

The Boat browser also reportedly works (in the Settings check under Page content settings, Enable flash/plug-ins first) - but for me it always crashed after starting to play iPlayer video.

Sleipnir wouldn't work for me at all, even with all plug-ins enabled.

If anyone knows of other browsers that reliably support Flash on the Nexus 7, please let me know.

The problem - BBC iPlayer and other Flash sites don't work on Nexus 7 out of the box!

Your shiny new Google / Asus Nexus 7 unfortunately won't play BBC iPlayer video or audio, or indeed media on other websites that use Adobe Flash. You may get screens like these:

"Your phone does not support BBC iPlayer":

Or you may get, "You need to install Flash":

But… if you then try to install Flash Player from the Play Store, you may get… "Your device isn't compatible with this version"!:

Background to the Nexus 7 Flash issue

A big disappointment with Google's Nexus 7 Android tablet is this lack of support for Flash, which is used by BBC iPlayer and many other websites for displaying videos or playing music or other audio.

Adobe recently withdrew support for Flash on Android devices and other mobile browsers, although this move was presaged in late 2011. If you try to install Adobe's Flash Player browser plugin from the Google Play Store to your Nexus 7, it won't let you.

While that's really down to Adobe, not Google, it's still a pity that Google didn't provide at least some support for Flash in its Chrome browser in the Nexus 7, given that the tablet is being heavily publicised as a media player - that omission is in my view a Google Gaffe. Indeed, a friend told me that being able to watch or listen to BBC iPlayer TV or radio ("listen again") in bed was a major reason why he'd ordered a Nexus 7, and I suspect the same goes for many other Nexus 7 buyers.

Adobe envisaged that the ultimate solution to this issue would be for websites to eventually move to providing their media using the open HTML5 standard, instead of using Flash.

Unfortunately, that's going to take some time - there are real problems today because many, if not most, websites on which people generally want to view videos or audio don't use HTML 5, but still rely on Flash. So users have been left in the lurch, until sites update their content to migrate to using HTML 5.

Nexus 7 - disable "No more room on this Home screen" message

Deutsch | Español | Français | Italiano | Português | 日本語 | 한국어 | 简体中文

When you add a new app to your Nexus 7 from the Google Play store, you may get the message "No more room on this Home screen" - even though there's actually lots of room for new icons on your Nexus 7's home screen! And, it still adds a shortcut icon for the new app to your home screen anyway(though you may have to swipe sideways to find the home screen that contains it).

This seems to be an issue with Google Play. Unfortunately I can't find an ideal solution. There are 2 workarounds:

1. Live with it! Keep ignoring the message. (Which is what I've ended up doing). Or,
2. You can get rid of the message, but this means that when you install a new app from Google Play, it won't add an icon for it to your home screen. Which might be OK for some…
   Here's how to stop "No more room on this home screen" from appearing when you add apps:
1. Open Google Play by tapping its icon (outlined in red below)
   
   
2. Open its menu (3 vertical dots, top right).
3. Choose Settings.
4. Finally, UNtick "Auto-add widgets", like so:
   
   

Someone has posted that after they unticked that setting and then re-ticked it, it prevented the "No more room on this home screen" message from recurring. However, that didn't work for me - after re-enabling that again, the irritating message reappeared. So I'm just living with it.

If anyone knows a permanent solution to this annoyance, please do share!

Powerpoint - how to close the notes pane at the bottom

Deutsch | Español | Français | Italiano | Português | 日本語 | 한국어 | 简体中文

In Powerpoint 2010, if you do a search and the text you're searching is inside any of the Notes to your slides, it will show the Note at the bottom of the slide in a separate pane.

The annoying thing is that there's no X to close that pane once you're done with it.

The simple solution? Move the mouse pointer over the divider tipbetween the slide, so that it becomes a double headed black arrow with vertical lines - as outlined in red in the pic below.

Then click and drag that divider down to the bottom of your window with your mouse.

That's it!

Powerpoint - how to get back the slides thumbnails list on the left

Deutsch | Español | Français | Italiano | Português | 日本語 | 한국어 | 简体中文

In Powerpoint 2010, on the left there's normally a vertical display or pane listing thumbnails of all your slides vertically, outlined in red below, so that you can select or edit particular slides quickly (and copy/paste etc individual slides too).

If you click the X to close that vertical pane on the left, how do you get that pane or view back?

It's not at all obvious. But there are two possible ways:

• Click on the Normal button in the View menu (outlined in blue below), or
• Move your mouse pointer to the left border of the window until it becomes a double-headed arrow (see the red outline) - that's actually the divider, and if you click and drag to the right you can get the pane back!

Thunderbird - public holidays won't display?

Deutsch | Español | Français | Italiano | Português | 日本語 | 한국어 | 简体中文

In my Thunderbird email app (with Lightning for calendaring), I'd subscribed to Google's public holidays calendar for the UK. but lately, holidays no longer show up. They used to display fine, but that's stopped working.

What finally sorted the problem for me, after many unsuccessful troubleshooting attempts to try to get the Google calendar to display, was a workaround rather than solution or fix, but it's good enough for me! So here's my tip to get round this issue, step by step:

1. download the ICS calendar file for UK public holidays (or other holidays of your choice) from Apple, and save it on your computer
2. in Thunderbird, go to the Events and Tasks menu, and choose Import
3. navigate to the saved ICS file and Open it
4. choose which calendar in Thunderbird you want to import the file to, and OK it
5. the public holidays should show up properly, hooray!

This should work with Apple ICS files for other holidays or events too. I tried Google's ICS file for that calendar first but it doesn't contain the necessary info for importing.

Apple 1, Google 0.

(Google Calendars of public holidays may display properly in later versions of Thunderbird, but I've stuck with Thunderbird 9.0 because add-ons I need aren't compatible with later versions.)

Windows Live Writer won't start or open?

Deutsch | Español | Français | Italiano | Português | 日本語 | 한국어 | 简体中文

If Windows Live Writer won't launch, it can be a heart-sinking experience if you depend on it as much as I do - it's the best free blogging tool I know.

For me, trying to "repair" Windows Live Essentials via the Control Panel Programs and Features didn't work to get WLW to open again. Nada, not even an error message.

Here's how to fix it when Windows Live Writer stops working, or at least some steps to try:

1. Open up Windows Explorer or Computer.
2. In the address bar at the top, type or paste the following (not case-sensitive), then hit Enter or the right arrow:
   %AppData%\Windows Live Writer\
   
   
3. You'll see folders like these:
   
   
   
4. Open the LinkGlossary folder. Copy the linkglossary.xml file there, then paste it somewhere you can find it again, as backup in case.
   
   
5. Now delete the linkglossary.xml file from the LinkGlossary folder. (Thanks to Scott Lovegrove).
6. Try opening WLW again. If that doesn't work, try opening the Keywords folder, and deleting all the files inside that folder that start with 'keyword..'.
7. I also found a registry fix - see this link (scroll down)

For me, step 6 didn't work, but step 5 solved the problem for me, so I didn't need to try step 7.

How to convert Word documents to clean HTML

Deutsch | Español | Français | Italiano | Português | 日本語 | 한국어 | 简体中文

 While you can "Save as" a DOC or DOCX document in Microsoft Word as "Web Page, Filtered", the resulting HTML includes all the MsoNormal etc classes. Which is bit messy for my taste - I often want clean HTML.

To convert the Word document to pure, simple HTML, rather than trying to email the document to yourself in Gmail (which no longer works the same way anymore, anyway) I've discovered a quicker, cleaner way.

1. Download and install Windows Live Writer (which I use anyway for blogging - it's the best free blog writing software there is).
2. Launch Live Writer.
3. Then simply switch to your Word document, and copy all (in the Word document press ctrl-a to select all, then press ctrl-c to copy all)
4. Switch back to Live Writer, click in its document window if necessary, then press ctrl-v to paste the Word document's text into Live Writer.
5. In Live Writer, now go to the Source view (bottom left) and then you can copy and paste the nice clean pure HTML from that view, into Notepad or other text editor to "Save as" an .html file.
   
   
   

That's it. Clean, simple HTML. And no MSo classes either!

Word footnotes - how to update cross-references to footnotes

Deutsch | Español | Français | Italiano | Português | 日本語 | 한국어 | 简体中文

In Microsoft Word, if you insert cross-references to footnote numbers and later add or delete any footnotes, the footnote numbering as shown in the cross-references can be wrong.

You can click the cross-reference and be taken to the right footnote, but the footnote numbers that display and print will be the 'old' ones.

Here's a tip on how to fix that problem - it took me ages to find the solution.

You need to:

1. click inside the footnotes area first
2. press Ctrl a (hold down the Ctrl key then tap the "a" key then release both)
3. tap the F9 key, and
4. OK it all.

This was in Word 2010, but I believe it's the same for Word 2007 etc too.

How to remove Nuance PDF reader from Firefox (& short review)

Deutsch | Español | Français | Italiano | Português | 日本語 | 한국어 | 简体中文

If like some people you install the free Nuance PDF reader, then uninstall it but it's still taking over PDFs in Firefox, here is how I got rid of it. It worked for me, but your mileage may vary.

Try these steps (screenshots are from Firefox 4):

1. In Firefox find your Plugins - in Firefox go to menu Tools, Add-ons (or in the address bar type about:addons and hit Enter), then on the left click Plugins
2. In the Plugins list, look for all PDF plugins that are NOT "Adobe Acrobat" - in my case the culprit was DocuCom PDF Plus rather than Nuance, go figure. Click the Disable button for that plugin, so that it now gets greyed out and has "(disable)" after its name:
   
   
   
3. Do this for each non-Adobe PDF plugin. Make sure you scroll down to the end of the plugins list to disable all non-Adobe PDF plugins.
4. You may also have to disable and then enable the standard Adobe plugin, again go figure but I had to before it would work.
5. Restart Firefox, just for luck. And hopefully now PDFs will open using Adobe Reader instead of Nuance.

Nuance PDF Reader

Why did I decide against Nuance's free PDF reader? I want to make it clear that I do love their Dragon Dictation app for the iPhone, which is remarkably accurate and quick (and, generously, free).

However, their PDF reader, although it's quite fast, insists on defaulting to the hand tool when I open a PDF, whereas I need it to default to Select to copy/paste text etc.

More importantly, when I rightclick on a PDF in Firefox, Nuance won't show me the document Properties, which I need in order to check the publication date of some PDFs.

There may be a way to change its settings to do what I need, but it's not obvious, and I've not had the time to find it - whereas Adobe defaults to what I need, so I may as well go back to that.

Convert files free, online - PDF to Word DOC, etc - review of tool

Deutsch | Español | Français | Italiano | Português | 日本語 | 한국어 | 简体中文

ConvertFiles.com, which I've just discovered, is a very useful online tool, especially to convert Adobe Acrobat PDFs to editable word processing documents eg Microsoft Word DOC format.

You just give the website the URL of a file (starting with http, https, ftp), or you can upload a local file, and it will automatically recognise the file type and offer you a choice of suitable formats into which it can be converted.

Tip: sometimes it won't recognise PDF files where the URL doesn't end in .pdf - so in that situation just download the file and upload it from your computer.

There's a decent range of formats available (see lists below).

Speed - you can download the converted file quite quickly, even for big files.

Maximum file size limits - it will accept files of up to a very generous 200 MB.

OCR - it will even do OCR (optical character recognition) of image files, ie convert scans of images etc to editable text - and, though they don't mention this (they should!), that includes PDF scans, I tried some.

It converted a massive PDF scan beautifully into an editable Word document, with very few errors.

What's more, it's all free, although in gratitude I've checked out some of their advertisers!

Supported formats and conversions

From their FAQs, here's their full list of supported conversions:

ARCHIVE

7Z to RAR, TAR, ZIP, TGZ, TAR.GZ
RAR to TAR, ZIP, TGZ, TAR.GZ
TAR to RAR, ZIP, TGZ, TAR.GZ
TGZ to TAR, RAR, ZIP
TAR.GZ to TAR, RAR, ZIP
ZIP to TAR, RAR, TGZ, TAR.GZ

DOCUMENT

DOCX to DOC, ODT, RTF, SWX, TXT, HTML, XHTML, PDF, PDB, ZIP
DOC to ODT, RTF, SWX, TXT, HTML, XHTML, PDF, PDB, ZIP
ODT to DOC, RTF, SWX, TXT, HTML, XHTML, PDF, PDB, ZIP
RTF to ODT, DOC, SWX, TXT, HTML, XHTML, PDF, PDB, ZIP
SXW to ODT, RTF, DOC, TXT, HTML, XHTML, PDF, PDB, ZIP
TXT to ODT, RTF, SWX, DOC, HTML, XHTML, PDF, PDB, ZIP
ODS to XLS, CSV, RTF, PDF, HTML, ZIP
XLS to ODS, CSV, PDF, HTML, ZIP
XLSX to XLS, ODS, CSV, PDF, HTML, ZIP
PDF to DOC, PNG, JPG
XPS to PDF
CHM to PDF, EPUB, FB2, MOBI, LIT, TXT
PAGES to PDF

PRESENTATION

ODP to PPT, PDF, SWF
PPT to ODP, PDF, SWF
PPTX to PPT, ODP, SWF, PDF

E-BOOK

EPUB to FB2, MOBI, LIT, PDF, TXT
FB2 to MOBI, LIT, EPUB, PDF, TXT
MOBI to EPUB, FB2, LIT, PDF, TXT
LIT to EPUB, FB2, MOBI, PDF, TXT
PRC to EPUB, FB2, MOBI, PDF, TXT, LIT

DRAWING

ODG to PDF, JPG, PNG, SWF
DXF to PDF, JPG, PNG, SWF
DWG to PDF, JPG, PNG

IMAGES, PICS, PHOTOS

BMP to GIF, JPG, PNG, TIF, ZIP, PDF
GIF to BMP, JPG, PNG, TIF, PDF
JPG to GIF, BMP, PNG, TIF, PDF
PNG to GIF, JPG, BMP, TIF, PDF
TIF to GIF, JPG, PNG, BMP, ZIP, PDF

OCR

BMP to DOC, TXT, RTF
GIF to DOC, TXT, RTF
JPG to DOC, TXT, RTF
PNG to DOC, TXT, RTF
TIF to DOC, TXT, RTF

AUDIO

AAC to WAV, MP3, OGG, M4A, FLAC, AU, WMA, AMR
AMR to WAV, MP3, OGG, WMA, AAC, FLAC, AU, M4A
AU to WAV, MP3, OGG, WMA, AAC, FLAC, AMR, M4A
FLAC to WAV, MP3, OGG, M4A, AAC, AU, WMA, AMR
M4A to WAV, MP3, OGG, WMA, AAC, FLAC, AU, AMR
MP3 to WAV, OGG, AAC, M4A, FLAC, AU, WMA, AMR
OGG to WAV, MP3, AAC, M4A, FLAC, AU, WMA, AMR
WAV to MP3, OGG, AAC, M4A, FLAC, AU, WMA, AMR
WMA to WAV, MP3, OGG, M4A, AAC, FLAC, AU, AMR
MKA to WAV, MP3, OGG, M4A, AAC, FLAC, AU, AMR, WMA

VIDEO

3GP to AVI, MOV, WMV, M4V, MP3, JPG
AMV to 3GP, FLV, MP4, MPEG, AVI, VOB, MOV, MKV, ASF, M4V, WMV, MP3, JPG
ASF to 3GP, FLV, MP4, MPEG, AVI, VOB, WMV, MOV, AVI, M4V, MP3, JPG
AVI to 3GP, FLV, MP4, MPEG, VOB, WMV, MOV, MKV, ASF, M4V, MP3, JPG
FLV to 3GP, AVI, MP4, MPEG, VOB, WMV, MOV, MKV, ASF, M4V, MP3, JPG
MKV to 3GP, FLV, MP4, MPEG, AVI, VOB, WMV, MOV, ASF, M4V, MP3, JPG
MOV to 3GP, FLV, MP4, MPEG, AVI, VOB, WMV, MKV, ASF, M4V, MP3, JPG
M4V to 3GP, FLV, MP4, MPEG, AVI, VOB, MOV, MKV, ASF, WMV, MP3, JPG
MP4 to FLV, 3GP, AVI, MPEG, VOB, WMV, MOV, MKV, ASF, M4V, MP3, JPG
MPEG to AVI, 3GP, MP4, FLV, VOB, WMV, MOV, MKV, ASF, M4V, MP3, JPG
MPG to AVI, 3GP, MP4, FLV, VOB, WMV, MOV, MKV, ASF, M4V, MP3, JPG
RM to AVI, 3GP, MP4, FLV, MPEG, VOB, WMV, MOV, MKV, ASF, M4V, MP3, JPG
VOB to 3GP, FLV, MP4, MPEG, AVI, WMV, MOV, MKV, ASF, M4V, MP3, JPG
WMV to 3GP, FLV, MP4, MPEG, AVI, VOB, MOV, MKV, ASF, M4V, MP3, JPG
M2T to WMV, 3GP, FLV, MP4, MPEG, AVI, VOB, MOV, MKV, ASF, M4V, MP3, JPG
M2TS to WMV, 3GP, FLV, MP4, MPEG, AVI, VOB, MOV, MKV, ASF, M4V, MP3, JPG
MTS to WMV, 3GP, FLV, MP4, MPEG, AVI, VOB, MOV, MKV, ASF, M4V, MP3, JPG

OTHER

EPS to GIF, JPG, PNG
PSD to GIF, JPG, PNG

The downside?

Don't expect any support (I emailed them with a query which they never responded to). But hey, it's free.

How to install 1-Wire drivers for iButton / OneWireViewer

Deutsch | Español | Français | Italiano | Português | 日本語 | 한국어 | 简体中文

If you want to use the Maxim 1-Wire and iButton and have had problems with your computer not properly installing the device drivers for the Maxim DS9490R# USB adapter via WinUSB, you might try the solution outlined below, particularly if you've had these error messages (shown in the screenshots above):

"Windows encountered a problem installing the driver software for your device

Windows found driver software for your device but encountered an error while attempting to install it.
USB Host Adapter for 1-Wire Network using WinUSB
This operation returned because the timeout period expired.
If you know the manufacturer of your device, you can visit its website and check the support section for driver software."

and/or:

"Driver Software Installation
Installing device driver software
Unidentified Device
Failed"

and/or:

"Device driver software was not successfully installed
Please consult with your device manufacturer for assistance getting this device installed.
Unidentified Device Failed"

I know this is a niche area, but as I've done the troubleshooting and fixed the issue for a friend who needs to use iButtons for temperature logging (though not humidity logging), I'm documenting the steps to take, in case it helps any other ecologists, field biologists, conservationists or indeed caterers, restauranteurs or food industry people etc!

The steps below worked on Windows Vista; let me know if they worked on eg Windows 7 too.

1. Do NOT plug in the USB adapter yet!


2. Follow the instructions in the official Quick Start guide for OneWireViewer and iButton.


3. In particular, make sure you install Java, and download the OneWireViewer and 1-Wire drivers for your Windows computer eg Vista. (If you don't know whether your PC is 32 bit or 64 bit, it's very likely to be 32 bit, but they've got a tester on their site to check so use that if necessary.)


4. Run the .msi file, as instructed in their step 3. Allow it to "Continue" if Vista asks for confirmation.


5. Their step 4, after plugging in the USB adapter, is where it went wrong for my friend, and for me too when I tried it on a different Vista computer.


6. Make sure you click on the popup that appears at the bottom right immediately after you plug in the adapter ("Installing device driver software Click here for status"), so that you can view the details of the driver installation - then something bigger will pop up at the bottom right to show the progress.
   
   
   
   
7. Though this is not in their instructions, it's likely that after a while you'll get this message coming up (but it may be hidden behind something else, so you have to look for this window eg by Alt-Tabbing):
   
   
   


8. If you get that window, the progress/status info at the bottom right will also probably be showing this:
   
   
   


9. In order to get any further, in the window shown in my step 7 you must click "Locate and install driver software (recommended)", or you won't get anywhere.


10. If, after clicking that, you wait a long time and then you get one or more of the error messages shown at the top of this blog post, don't despair. Try these next steps.


11. Do NOT unplug the USB adapter. Leave it plugged in. (If you've already unplugged it, then plug it back in and go through my steps 6 to 10 - you'll just have to be patient there.)


12. Now, open your Device Manager. Scroll down the list till you see "Unknown device" under "Other devices" or under "1-Wire", like this:
    
    
    or
    


13. If you have more than one "Unknown device" showing, you need to make sure you're working on the right one for the USB adapter, eg trying unplugging it and seeing which one goes away in Device Manager (but you'll have to then go through steps 6 to 10 again when you plug it back in). If it's under "1-Wire", then it's the right one.


14. Rightclick on the correct "Unknown device", and choose "Update driver software"
    
    
    


15. In the next screen, click "Browse my computer for driver software":
    
    
    


16. Next, click "Let me pick…"
    
    
    


17. In the next screen, "1-Wire" should be highlighted; if not, click on it, then click "Next":
    
    
    


18. The next screen should look like this, click "Have Disk":
    
    
    


19. The next screen should look like this, click "Browse":
    
    
    


20. Now you've got to navigate to the WinUSB_Driver folder that was previously installed when in you ran the .msi file.
    
    
    Mine was located at C:\Program Files\Maxim Integrated Products\1-Wire Drivers x86\WinUSB_Driver.


21. Click on the ds2490winusb_x86.inf file in that folder, then click Open.
    
    
    


22. It should now look like this:
    
    
    


23. Click OK, and you'll see this as it tries to install it (properly this time, hopefully!):
    
    
    


24. With any luck, after waiting a while you'll now see something like this:
    
    
    


25. Notice that it says you have to restart your computer, so do so (having first unplugged the USB adapter). It'll say it's updating stuff in Windows, don't turn off your computer - so leave it to do its thing, which may take a while.


26. After Windows has fully restarted, plug in the USB adapter, and hopefully this time you'll see something like these:
    
    
    
    


27. (Optional) If you want to go check your Device Manager again, it should look like this, with no "Unknown device" for the adapter:
    
    
    


28. You can now proceed to attach the other bits and bobs to the plugged-in USB adapter, and open the OneWireViewer.exe program from your Start menu to view the data collected by the iButton.


29. Note that if you plug the adapter into a different USB port, it will go through step 26 again, just once per new USB port, but hopefully you only have to do the longer-winded earlier steps above once per computer and operating system.