I do not often need to convert a pdf file into Microsoft Office format, and that is the reason why it always had taken me hours each time when I had to do that.

Last week I needed that feature again.

I needed to sort the current list of Singapore patent attorneys, in order to find the email addresses of those patent attorneys who were successfully sitting for their qualification examination, in order to become a Singapore patent attorney. We need this email list for revamping the local FICPI chapter in Singapore. This is how I find them: through the official patent agent register.

The current list of Singapore patent attorneys is available here https://www.ipos.gov.sg/docs/default-source/Register-of-Patent-Agents/9-april-2018-official-register-of-patents-agents-(latest).pdf

Check it out, this list has a quite complicated format, but all information needed is there. Names, regime (new/old), and the email address.

My plan was to first convert this list into a Microsoft Word format, and then selectively copying the tables in the document into Excel, where we can sort out the “New Regime” patent attorneys with an “N” letter in the fourth column, by applying the Excel sorting function to the tables.

I don´t want to do this with Microsoft Office or with the Adobe PDF Maker software. It would take hours.

The Internet has a much faster option for that.

SmallPdf to the Rescue

There is a FREE online software that can do the same job of convert this list into a Microsoft Word format within seconds:  https://smallpdf.com/pdf-to-word

No more installing programs on your computer, no more learning curve, no help needed.

Just download the pdf file that you want to convert to your computer, pick it with your mouse from the Windows file explorer and drop it into the input window of the SmallPdf webpage. Then download the converted Word file from the SmallPdf webpage to your computer.

From there, you can copy/paste the tables from the Word file into Excel and process it further there. If you don´t know how that works, take the FREE Microsoft Office package training course from my webpage, here https://ip-lawyer-tools.com/here-comes-a-nine-9-hours-long-microsoft-office-365-online-training-course-for-free/

That´s it.

This is so easy that I did not even record a screencast video about it.

SmallPdf  is a marvellous piece of online software!

https://smallpdf.com/pdf-to-word

Check it out!

 

Martin “pdf cracker” Schweiger