I would like to be able to make the PDFs I read more 'readable'. For example, in the same way that I can reflow, restyle and reformat the presentation of online articles using Instapaper and Pocket.
Is there a way I can do this with Adobe and Foxit Readers? I'd like to change the typeface, size, spacing, flow (columns) and contrast. Otherwise, are there any readers that will allow me to do this?
3 Answers
The best you can do is generate tagged PDF and use a viewer (probably only Adobe Reader) that does reflows.
PDF is meant for a final, finished product, not reflowing. At best you could use a tool such as pdf2txt to attempt to extract the text from the PDF and open it in a more flexible reader.
There are now two more options in the market that help overcome the limitations of the reflow feature in Adobe Reader/Adobe Acrobat (that reflow feature only works well on very simple PDFs, but typically not well with any file that has non-trivial layout):
VIP PDF Reader, free, standalone program, requires PDFs to be tagged PDFs, for Mac/Windows/Linux, published June 24, 2013, cf.
callas pdfGoHTML, free, Plug-In for Adobce Acrobat Pro 9 or newer on Mac/Windows, requires PDFs to be tagged PDFs, published November 2012, cf. [Disclaimer: my company, callas software, is the developer/publisher of callas pdfGoHTML]
Olaf
