Microsoft, ScanSoft appear to be cooperating on PDF plug-in

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Microsoft, ScanSoft appear to be cooperating on PDF plug-in
By Don Fluckinger
2003-05-08

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Adobe archrival hooks up with ScanSoft for PDF content extraction.

It seems that 50 times a week, someone asks on the PDFzone discussion boards, "How do I get the content of a PDF out as something I can edit, such as a Word doc or an RTF file?" Looks like the answer for Windows users--if the existing beta versions turn into commercially available reality whenever Office 2003 goes live--will be with a separately sold Microsoft Word plug-in from ScanSoft, if you don't have the time, money or inclination to buy one of the flavors of Acrobat 5 or Acrobat 6.

PDFzone has learned that some 500,000 Microsoft Office 2003 beta testers were told via e-mail of the availability of a new Microsoft Word plug-in made by ScanSoft, which can open PDFs in Word and save out PDF content as Word or RTF files. Called PDF Converter, the plug-in adds a "PDF File>Open" command to Microsoft Word 2003 and implements a PDF smart-tag capability within Microsoft Office 2003. Users who also have ScanSoft's PaperPort Pro 9 Office can take the edited files, re-export them as PDF with that application and thus avoid Acrobat altogether.

ScanSoft entered the PDF-creation arena last month with PaperPort Pro 9 Office. In ScanSoft's earnings announcement Tuesday, the company said that the PaperPort launch is the best in the company's history, driven in part by its new PDF creation capabilities. Neither product requires Adobe Acrobat to create PDFs or save content in Word or RTF format.

ScanSoft spokesperson Robert Wiedeman acknowledges that the Converter plug-in exists--since a beta's available via ScanSoft's own site and Microsoft links to the beta from its beta-testing site (see URLs below)--but offered no comment on ship dates or any agreements pending with Microsoft. He also indicated that the plug-in will work with current versions of Word (XP and Office 2000), as well as other components within the operating system.

ScanSoft PDF Converter beta plug-in download

The relevant Microsoft Office 2003 Beta page

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