This isn’t technically a problem unique to DevonThink, but I haven’t been able to figure out where else to find an answer. The problem I have is that I can’t copy text from a PDF. Occasionally, there are exceptions, but in many cases (for instance, any PDF that comes from the JSTOR archive of academic journals), there’s no way I can copy text. It doesn’t seem to make a difference whether the text is digitally-produced or OCRed, nor whether I use Apple-C or pick Copy from a menu. I know that the text is really there, because I can find it by searching. The same thing happens if I open the PDF in Skim. Is this a known problem? Is there any way around it?
They may have a security flag set to prevent copy/paste.
If not, have you tried converting the file to a rich text in the DTPO contextual menu? That might do it.
Otherwise, try the “recover text from any file” script in the script menu.
ooops.
“Recover Text From Selected File” is a service installed with the freeware Bean rich text editor. It’s a nice little program in its own right. See it here: bean-osx.com/Bean.html