Thread: Extracting vector objects from a PDF with Inkscape

Before you start this I assume you've downloaded Inkscape.

Open the PDF file in Inkscape.

A dialogue will be displayed asking you which page you want to import along with a few other options. Leave the other options as the defaults and select the page with the object on which you want to extract. Click Ok and the page will appear in the editing space.

In the example attached I extracted page 5 of the 7555 datasheet, ungrouped (right click the object and click ungroup) it and deleted all the objects except for the internal schematic.

Select save a copy as from the file menu and save it in a format your word processor can import, for example if you have MS Word save it as a .EMF file or you could just save it as a .PDF straight away.

Open your word processor (I have OpenOffice but it works for MS Word) and import the picture with the insert picture command.

If you have any questions I'll post some pictures.

Note:
The PDF import isn't perfect, if the text looks funny this can sometimes be remedied by selectring the text and clicking on 'Remove manual kerns' in the text menu.

The EMF and PDF export aren't perfect either, if it's possible save in SVG or print using PDF Creator.

I think it is very nice that you went through all the effort to share some useful knowledge.

But I think there is an easier way. With a screen capture tool that allows you to select the area you wish to copy, you can capture the image in one mouse drag and insert into word. Image is perfectly readable. I used Paintshop for this example, but any software that has a screen grab should work. As you said doc file can be saved as pdf with PDFcreator.

I found the ability to crop out a bit of a pdf interesting.

If the image to be croped is a pdf and you want a non raster
image, adobe reader has a snapshot tool that lets you cut and
save a portion of the image. Since the pdf is a vector image
you can scale it up prior to talking the snapshoot to any resolution
you need to get a crisp clear image.

3v0

Originally Posted by Mikebits

I think it is very nice that you went through all the effort to share some useful knowledge.

But I think there is an easier way. With a screen capture tool that allows you to select the area you wish to copy, you can capture the image in one mouse drag and insert into word. Image is perfectly readable. I used Paintshop for this example, but any software that has a screen grab should work. As you said doc file can be saved as pdf with PDFcreator.

I know about the capture tool which isn't very good because it converts it into a raster image which is hard to edit and will become blury when scaled up. Inskape is better because it extracts the image in a vector format which is smaller and has the advantage of being easilly editable and scaleable.

Zooming in on your Word document causes it to go blury because it's raster, mine stays sharp because it's vector and takes up less disk space.

Originally Posted by 3v0

Since the pdf is a vector image
you can scale it up prior to talking the snapshoot to any resolution
you need to get a crisp clear image.

The problem with that is that a large image takes up lots of memory and there's still the fact that can be harder to edit than a vector.

If you plan to edit the image such as add a symbol or such, then I agree with what you are saying, but for general cut and paste, the copy tool is fast, and if you want to scale up in size, good photo tools have a resample feature. For my important image jobs I use Photoshop, but for simple work I can also use Paintshop Pro. The vector tool I use is Smartdraw, not the best but it is ok. I might take a look at inkscape. The price is right

The example shows a relatively small circuit, already clearly to be seen slightly blurred. (similar to TI-data sheets)

How about a full schematic of DIN-A4 size?

I guess you'd be better off using Inkscape, not more work than cutting and pasting.

Hans