Keyboard Maestro “Convert PDF Files into Text Files in the Front Finder Window” Macro

Hey Wendy,

What macro are you running?

What happens if you open the Terminal and run:

pdftotext -v

-Chris

Hey Chris,

Using [or trying to] "Convert PDF Files into Text Files in the Front Finder Window"
I got the BBEdit one to work for a single file-but can't get the original to work at all. Followed the Cmd+Shift+G to get to where I was supposed to put the files, although the 'install' doc that comes with them says it's not necessary? I even tried putting the language files in there as well, but the same error appears.
Thanks for the uber swift reply BTW

BTW this is what I get after typing your suggestion in terminal:

pdftotext version 4.03 [www.xpdfreader.com]

Copyright 1996-2021 Glyph & Cog, LLC

Wendys-iMac:~ wendydunning$

I don't think that version is on there anymore.

Anyways I got it to work, really cool software and script, so thank you.

FOR CURRENT INSTALLATION USE HOME BREW (link: xpdf — Homebrew Formulae)

All you have to do is open a new terminal type in the command below and then press enter

$ brew install xpdf

You would be mistaken – version 4.0.3 is on the Download page:

Mac 64-bit: download

You're welcome.  :sunglasses:

There's nothing wrong with Hombrew, but keep in mind that it doesn't come stock on macOS and must be installed by the user.

-Chris

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Hi Chris,

Thank you for this tool. This was working great on my earlier MacOS. I can't seem to get it running on my macOS Monterey (12.3.1) using m1.

I have installed xpdf through brew, and pdftotext version is:
pdftotext version 4.04 [www.xpdfreader.com]
Copyright 1996-2022 Glyph & Cog, LLC

When I run the script, I get the below error:

Shell Script

errorText:

pdftotext Unix Executable is NOT installed!

Thanks for the help!

Fixed it!
It seems to have been a security and had to manually allow it to run.

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I have been using this macro for a while and haven't had to use it until just today.
Today I get:

2022-10-19 15:37:43 Search Regular Expression failed to match <a href=["'](.+?PrimaryKey[^"']+)\">\d{4}.+[[:blank:]]*Statement.*. Macro “Convert PDF Files into Text Files in the Front Finder Window” cancelled (while executing Search Variable “bankPageSource” Using Regular Expression (ignoring case)).
2022-10-19 15:37:58 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Loud Comment
Last message repeated 4 times

Has anyone got any idea how to trobleshoot this error?

Hey John,

What macro?

And did you solve your problem?

-Chris

The macro you posted at the top of this thread (which I had working for a while but now it's not happy :slightly_frowning_face: )

What have you changed on your system between then and now?

The machine in question was updated to Mojave and I think that's all. I try to keep changes to a minimum. Perhaps I should try a re-install of the binary? Didn't think to try that at the time.

Hello @ccstone,

Should I place the files in the bin64 folder directly in the bin folder? (Not make a subfolder bin64 in the bin folder?)


Hey Hans,

It would appear that you've now figured out that you did not install the executables or man pages correctly...

Your post continues to be a hot mess however, so I'm going to do a @JMichaelTX and say TLDR!

If you'll clean it up I'll attempt to respond...

-Chris

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Thank you @ccstone for answering my question! I misread your installation instructions. Sorry for that.

I now have the macro that I need:

You'll have to adapt the path in the macro. The macro assumes that the PDF is named 1.pdf and placed on the Desktop. You can change this to your needs.

I've also made a Q&D movie on how to install pdftohtml and use it.

2 Likes

You'll want to update your output file name to something more user-friendly -- even if it's just html.html!

1 Like