Ubuntu
poppler package

Evince cannot select one column in a two column PDF

Bug #594205 reported by Henk Broekema
18
This bug affects 3 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
poppler (Ubuntu)
Triaged
Low
Unassigned

Bug Description

Upstream URL:
https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/poppler/poppler/issues/409

1) lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu Vivid Vervet (development branch)
Release: 15.04

2) apt-cache policy libpoppler[0-9]
libpoppler47:
  Installed: 0.28.1-1ubuntu1
  Candidate: 0.28.1-1ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 0.28.1-1ubuntu1 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

apt-cache policy evince
evince:
  Installed: 3.14.1-0ubuntu1
  Candidate: 3.14.1-0ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 3.14.1-0ubuntu1 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

3) What is expected to happen via https://launchpadlibrarian.net/53980611/Example.pdf is one is able to highlight one column at a time, just like in Adobe Reader.

4) What happens instead is it highlights both columns at a time.

WORKAROUND: Open with Chromium's built-in PDF reader:
 apt-cache policy chromium-browser
chromium-browser:
  Installed: 39.0.2171.65-0ubuntu0.14.04.1.1064
  Candidate: 39.0.2171.65-0ubuntu0.14.04.1.1064
  Version table:
 *** 39.0.2171.65-0ubuntu0.14.04.1.1064 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/universe amd64 Packages
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-security/universe amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     34.0.1847.116-0ubuntu2 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/universe amd64 Packages

See original description
Henk Broekema (henkbroekema)
description: updated
Revision history for this message
Victor Vargas (kamus) wrote :

@Henk, please could you attach this pdf file to your report for try to reproduce this issue here? Thanks!

Changed in evince (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → Low
status: New → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :

is the update described on bug #33288 solving the issue?

Revision history for this message
Timmy Shih Jun Yee (shijun) wrote :

We'd like to figure out what's causing this bug for you, but we haven't heard back from you in a while. Could you please provide the requested information? Thanks!

Revision history for this message
Timmy Shih Jun Yee (shijun) wrote :

Can you please upgrade the package "libpoppler5" to 0.12.4-0ubuntu5 and see if the bug still exists?

Revision history for this message
Henk Broekema (henkbroekema) wrote :

Sorry, it has been a while..

Please note that I'm completely unfamiliar with Linux.
Every now and then I'm giving it a try to see whether I would be happy to leave windows behind.
Unfortunately I don't have the time right now to figure out how to install the package.

I've attached an example page of a pdf in which the columns are not selected correctly though.
At least you may be able to see if you experience the same issue..

If the problem is definitely resolved by the upgrade you propose, please let me know!

Thanks.

Revision history for this message
Timmy Shih Jun Yee (shijun) wrote :

Thank you for replying.

I downloaded the example PDF file you attached. When selecting a sentence or paragraph, other paragraphs are not selected. However, when trying to select a whole column, part of the other column also gets selected. So it looks like the bug is still there partially.

Changed in evince (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Manuel Schulte (manny-sea-to-sky) wrote :

I encounter this regularly as well. I have attached a sample PDF. Selecting columns or parts of columns causes neighbouring text to be selected as well. For instance trying to select "Shortly after 1900" on page 1, line 31 causes all kinds of other text to be selected as well.

Revision history for this message
Manuel Schulte (manny-sea-to-sky) wrote :

I've just attached another example (smaller file, less complicated layout). Selecting anything in the left column causes the entire right column to be selected and vice versa.

Revision history for this message
João Gomes (jvpgomes) wrote :

This problem was found and corrected in the past, I think it was when Karmic came out.

Now, I installed Maverick and I was surprised to see this bug again.

It's a very annoying bug when one is working with pdf files.

Revision history for this message
João Gomes (jvpgomes) wrote :

Please check here:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/poppler/+bug/33288

Revision history for this message
Timmy Shih Jun Yee (shijun) wrote :

I have libpoppler7 0.14.3-0ubuntu1.2 installed, and I was not able to reproduce the bug in the two attached files global.pdf and bookreview.pdf. However, this bug still occurs in example.pdf.

penalvch (penalvch)
description: updated
Changed in evince (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Triaged
summary: - Document viewer cannot select one column in a two-columned PDF
+ Evince cannot select one column in a two column PDF
penalvch (penalvch)
affects: evince (Ubuntu) → poppler (Ubuntu)
description: updated
Revision history for this message
In , penalvch (penalvch) wrote :

1) lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu Vivid Vervet (development branch)
Release: 15.04

2) apt-cache policy libpoppler[0-9]
libpoppler47:
  Installed: 0.28.1-1ubuntu1
  Candidate: 0.28.1-1ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 0.28.1-1ubuntu1 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

apt-cache policy evince
evince:
  Installed: 3.14.1-0ubuntu1
  Candidate: 3.14.1-0ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 3.14.1-0ubuntu1 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

3) What is expected to happen via https://launchpadlibrarian.net/53980611/Example.pdf is one is able to highlight one column at a time, just like in Adobe Reader.

4) What happens instead is it highlights both columns at a time.

description: updated
description: updated
Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater)
Changed in poppler:
importance: Unknown → Medium
status: Unknown → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
In , Jose-aliste-m (jose-aliste-m) wrote :

This is a problem with the Text layout algorithm inside TextOutputDev:

Running pdftotext gives the following ordering of paragraphs (the ellipsis are mine):

1. Apart from the emphasis ...

2. about this attitude ...

3. Integrative contractors
Our research has ...

4. Integrative clients
Integrative attitudes ...

5. Integrative contractors’ engineers
Integrative ...

6. Distributive attitudes ...

7. Economically ...

8. An integrative attitude to the occupational order?
An integrative ...

while it should be 1,3,5,2,4,6,7,8. The fact that in evince we can't select just one column is a consequence of this misorder in the paragraphs.

penalvch (penalvch)
no longer affects: poppler
description: updated
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