MAXQDA

Lexical search can't retrieve word combinations on pdf

Moderator: srueger

Lexical search can't retrieve word combinations on pdf

19.02.2020, 20:30

Hi there,

I encountered a problem when using lexical search (and also "Autocode with Dictionary" in MAXDictio) to retrieve phrases that have been separated into two adjacent lines on pdf, as illustrated below:



So my target word combination to be retrieved here is "these findings may suggest ", but as can be seen above, this word combination has been separated into two lines with the default pdf format. So lexical search can't find it (this issue also applies to "Autocode with Dictionary" in MAXDictio). But interestingly, I tried to search it in my pdf readers (Adobe Acrobat and PDF Expert) by using search bar. It all works. Does anyone figure out this issue?

Looking forward to your reply.

Kind regards,
--------------------------------------------------

Version: MAXQDA 2020
System: Mac OS X 10.13 (High Sierra)
ygjose
 
Posts: 14
Joined: 17.02.2020, 23:11

Re: Lexical search can't retrieve word combinations on pdf

24.02.2020, 15:58

Dear Ygjose,

unfortunately PDF documents have some limitations in regards to layout information. Here, the line breaks are apparently not properly recognised. If you can, convert the PDF to a DOCX or other text file before importing it.

Also: Did you know that you can convert a PDF into plain text within MAXQDA? Just right click at the document in the document browser and select "Insert PDF text as new document". With plain text the issue should disappear!

I hope this helps! If not, or in case of any other questions, please don't hesitate to contact us again.

Best regards on behalf of the MAXQDA support team,

Andreas M.
Andreas M.
 
Posts: 72
Joined: 21.02.2020, 14:02

Re: Lexical search can't retrieve word combinations on pdf

24.02.2020, 18:38

Thanks for your reply! I'll try to convert the PDF files to docs.

Best,
ygjose
 
Posts: 14
Joined: 17.02.2020, 23:11

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