TMO Quick Tip - PDF: Selective Copy Text from Columns

by , 7:30 AM EDT, August 6th, 2008

Copying text from a document is a no brainer, especially if the document is pretty basic. If the document is a PDF and includes columns, however, it's kind of a pain to copy text without getting lots of extra stuff that you don't really want. Of course, there's a trick that makes it easy to get just what you want, and it's not hard to do.

Instead of simply clicking and dragging to select text in a column, Option-click and drag. Your cursor will change from an insert bar into a cross hair to let you know you are in block copy mode, and you can select just the text you want from a single column.

I use this trick any time I need to copy text from a PDF in Preview or Adobe Acrobat, but don't want any of the text from surrounding columns. It's a real time saver since I don't have to delete the words I don't need.

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Jeff Gamet is TMO's Morning Editor and Reviews Editor. He lectures, teaches and speaks on Mac OS X and design-related topics, and is the author of The Designer's Guide to Mac OS X from Peachpit Press.

if you have tips or tricks to share, or Mac-related questions you want answered.

Jeff Gamet is TMO's Managing Editor and Reviews Editor. He lectures, teaches and speaks on Mac OS X and design-related topics, and is the author of The Designer's Guide to Mac OS X from Peachpit Press.