Are there some pdf's that won't let you copy them as text? I was trying to copy a table from http://www.icca.invensys.com/manuals/robertshaw/110-733c.pdf and couldn't copy it. I had no trouble copying a similar table from http://www.thermostatusa.com/pdf/CCREC01-Installation.pdf

Once in a while I just don't seem to be able to copy stuff.

Yup, that can happen. That is one of the selling points of the newer versions of Acrobat, a security feature if you will.

Hi,
Here is a "round-about" way of getting the table you want.
Do you have a scanner?
If so, then go to the site.
You can either print out the site, or;
Click on the Save As icon, and save it to, like, My Documents.
Then, open My Documents, and print it out.
Put the table you want in your scanner.
Scan it to where ever, such as an image program, then copy it from that program.
Just a thought.

You can use the MS Document Image writer to convert the file into tiff (Tagged Image File) or other picture format (use at least 150 DPI resolution). Then use an OCR software (also comes with most scanner software) to parse the table into readable and searchable format.

The trouble is that most pdf's that do not allow to copy also do not allow you to print them. In this case, the only option is either to try a password cracker software (takes very very very long--literally) or use "PRINT SCREEN" Key to copy and paste the screen image in some picture editor, save and then try OCR (very unreliable conversion to text because of lower resolutions on screens--96 DPI)

PDF files can be images or text depending on how they were created. If is a picture of text then you will need to use OCR software to convert to actual text. It could also be that the particular pdf has been locked so that editing or copying has been disabled. The way to tell is to open it and go to File > Document Properties and look at the security setting. If it is password protected then it is locked. Otherwise it is an image. The file size can also be an indication since pictures take up more space than text.

I just check out the Security Settings of the online PDF file and find it is a protected PDF file that doesn't allow any copy from this file. So it is impossible to do that work.

Just so everyone is aware, this was posted back in 2005.

Because the file you want to copy is protected with owner password that prevents you from copying and printing. So you would can do nothing about that since it is online. Can you download it and try to refer to some PDF Password Remover?

You haven't specified which program you use, but you may want to try Foxit PDF reader, it's lite, free to download for personal use and it has many brilliant features Adobe wishes it had.