Copying text and images from an Acrobat document

Acrobat Reader has 3 main tools, the hand tool (on by default), the select tool and the snapshot tool.

  • Most are familiar with the hand tool, which allows you to move the document around on the screen and other basic operations.
  • The select tool allows the user to select text in the PDF and copy it to the clipboard.
  • The snapshot tool allows the user to drag a box around a selection of the PDF and copy it to the clipboard as an image.

NOTE PDF security allows the creator of the document to disallow these tools, which results in buttons being “grayed out”.

Back to top