PDF2XL OCR Online Help

Selection

A layout in PDF2XL OCR consists of one or more tables and fields. You can select one or more of them to perform actions like moving them, copying them, or even deleting them. Creating tables and fields is covered elsewhere.

To select a table, click anywhere in it, in the header, or on the drag handle; the table's drag handle will become orange to mark that it is the currently selected table. When any internal area of the table is selected - a column, row, or cell - only that table can be selected; but you can select any combination of columns, rows of cells of that table.

The select a field, click anywhere on the field or on the field's drag handle. The drag handle will become blue to mark that this field is selected.

You can select multiple fields and tables by holding down the control key while clicking anywhere on a field, or on the table header or drag handle. If you click inside a table or on the table's column or row selection handle, only that table will be selected.

An additional option is to select a table and all the fields attached to it. To do that, click the table's header or drag handle while holding down the Shift key.

Selecting multiple layout elements comes in handy for various operations: moving the selection and copying and pasting the selection. You can even use commands on multiple elements at once by selecting them all and performing the operation.

Moving the selection

To move a single layout element, click the element's drag handle and drag it.

To move multiple layout elements, first select them all (using the Control key, as described above), and then click and drag any of the selected element's drag handle. All the selected elements will move together.

Copying and Pasting the selection

You can copy multiple layout elements to the clipboard by selecting them all and then using the Copy command from the Edit menu. This is useful for pasting a copy of those elements again on the same page, or on a different page or document.

To paste the copied selection, either right-click the place you wish to put the top-left element and select the Paste Here command from the context menu, or use the Paste command from the Edit menu, which will put the copied elements somewhere on the page where they will fit. The pasted elements will automatically be selected, so you can easily drag them into place if they were pasted in the wrong position.

Performing operations on the selection

Most of the commands available in the Selection menu can be used on multiple items. For example, the Convert Selection command will immediately convert all the selected elements into the currently selected output format (on the current page only). You can delete all the selected items using the Delete Selection command; and you can set the conversion format or the fields' conversion setting for multiple fields at once by selecting them all and using the appropriate commands from the selection menu.