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I open a pdf file in Chrome webbrowser. I can't copy some text out of the pdf file by selecting and Ctrl-c. How shall I do then? Thanks.

For example, opening up this link in chrome https://www.kevinsheppard.com/images/0/09/Python_introduction.pdf

I get two different results on page 1. The first one doesn't show "copy" after selection and right click, while the second does. I think maybe I don't use it correctly?

enter image description here enter image description here

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  • Is this all PDFs or just some? Maybe the PDF has been "secured" - Restricted documents are often protected against copying. If you can’t highlight or copy any text, then the document has been restricted.
    – DavidPostill
    Dec 17, 2014 at 21:36
  • all pdf files....
    – Tim
    Dec 17, 2014 at 21:43
  • 1
  • The solution seems to use adobe reader, which I don't want to have on Ubuntu. Update my post.
    – Tim
    Dec 17, 2014 at 21:52
  • Works fine here (Windows 7 64 bit, latest chrome). Confirmed pdf is not protected. Can copy as expected.
    – DavidPostill
    Dec 17, 2014 at 22:03

6 Answers 6

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By appending the URL to the Google Drive Viewer service -

https://drive.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=https://www.kevinsheppard.com/images/0/09/Python_introduction.pdf

..I was able to view the PDF & copy text from that file

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  • 1
    Does the job! Great, thanks!
    – clayRay
    Jul 26, 2021 at 6:27
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It's a bit of a kludge, but on Windows, I'm able to copy text from the Print Preview window, even though I cannot from the Chrome tab.

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  • Nice solution!!
    – jpussacq
    May 4, 2023 at 15:02
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You probably can't Ctrl+C because a) it's copy protected, and/or b) is a picture of some text and not actual (selectable) text.

Take a screen-shot of it, feed it through some OCR solution (example service), copy text and correct anything the OCR didn't recognize properly.

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  • happens to all pdf files.
    – Tim
    Dec 17, 2014 at 21:43
  • See my update...
    – Tim
    Dec 17, 2014 at 21:51
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If the PDF is not copy protected then the problem you are facing is due to a bug in the Chrome PDF reader. The solution is to first left click anywhere on the page of the PDF with the mouse before selecting text or pressing CTRL + A and CTRL + C to copy the text.

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I had the same issue with Chrome PDF viewer. But the PDF viewer from Firefox allowed me the copy operation.

  • ❌ Chrome
  • ❌ Edge
  • ❌ Adobe Reader
  • ✔️ Firefox

PDF files can have security restrictions which includes "copy protection".

PDF Document Restrictions

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In addition to the answer from @h3xStream, while using PEX 8311AA Data Book and trying to copy text:

  • ❌ Edge 111.0.1661.62 under Windows 11
  • ❌ Adobe Acrobat Reader 2023.001.20064 under Windows 11
  • ❌ Chrome 112.0.5615.49 under Ubuntu 18.04
  • ✔️ FireFox 111.0.1 under Ubuntu 18.04
  • ✔️ Evince (Document Viewer) 3.28.4 under Ubuntu 18.04

Adobe Acrobat Reader was the only tool which showed Content Copying was Not Allowed in the document properties:

enter image description here

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