Need help editing PDFs...please help!

Hi Eric,

Something to try -
Disclaimer:
This is long and verbose - my apology -
"Best viewed with warm beer and cold pizza"Open a PDF (i.e., vtskentucky102431.pdf).
Do Save As to create a working file (and keep the "source" PDF intact).
n.b., you may want to set up a "work" directory and a file naming scheme along the way.

Using the working PDF file:
Some optional items that may/may not facilitate the activity -
--| Show the grid lines (Ctrl+U for Windows)
--| Adjust page magnification to desired value.
Open the Advance Editing toolbar.
Select the Crop tool.
Use the Crop tool to "box" the desired article's rectangular footprint.
Press the Enter key.
Click OK.
Use Save As to create a unique PDF for the cropped content.
(for discussion, I'll call this file "file001_cropped.pdf")
For the next step, you'll need the page size of "file001_cropped.pdf".
If this is not displayed in Acrobat's status bar (bottom left) when a PDF is opened
then go into Acrobat's Preferences to configure for this feature.
Edit > Preferences > in Categories:, select Page Display > in the Page Content and Information pane,
select/check "Always show document page size"

With the page size visible for "filee001_cropped.pdf", go to Print Setup
File > Print Setup...
Confirm that the selected printer is "AdobePDF"
Note: If you decide to use the steps described here then, first, go to the Printers control panel
and make AdobePDF the Default Printer. Later, you can go back to what ever has been the default.

With AdobePDF selected there are some configuration attributes to establish in the Print Setup dialog.
--| In the Paper pane, use the drop down menu for "Size:" to select "PostScript Custom Page Size".
--| In the Orientation pane, select "Portrait".
--| Click the Properties button (upper right of the dialog window).
This will access the Adobe PDF Document Properties Dialog.
Under the Adobe PDF Settings tab, for "Default Settings", you will likely see "Standard".
This is the Job Option that Distiller will use. You can use one you create or just go with "Standard"
for the purpose of this activity.

--| Click the "Paper/Quality tab. Select/check "Black & White".
--| Click on the "Advanced..." button (bottom right).
In the new dialog (Adobe PDF Converter Advanced Options), click on the "Edit Custom Page" button.
In the new dialog (PostScript Custom Page Size Definition), enter the page size displayed for
"file001_cropped.pdf". My trial file is "2.34 x 7.42 in" so, in the dialog I entered "2.34" for Width and
"7.42" for Height.

--| After entering the Width and Height values, click on OK.
--| Click OK (to exit Adobe PDF Converter Advanced Options).
--| Click OK (to exit Adobe PDF Document Properties)
--| Click OK (to exit Print Setup)

Next, file "file001_cropped.pdf" will get printed to a 400ppi image.
--| Open the Print dialog
Use the printer icon on the tool bar/ribbon or use File > Print
--| Look over the Print dialog. Click on the "Advanced" button (bottom of dialog).
Locate an select/check "Print As Image" and select, at a minimum, 300 dpi.
Myself, I'd use 400 - file size goes up some but the as-is visual quality of your sample PDF
is not so good, eh.

Note that, after selecting/checking "Print As Image" the "Settings:" entry becomes "Custom".
You may want to "Save As" to the configuration is readily available.
--| With configuration complete, click "OK"

Back in the Print dialog, note that the "Preview" pane shows:
"Preview As Image" and that the page dimensions (size) reflects the values entered in Print Setup.
--| Click on OK to print a new PDF.

The Save PDF File As dialog opens.
You may want to rename the output PDF. I went with "file001_bis.pdf" as I put the output PDF
into the same location as the source PDF (file001_cropped.pdf).
If you have setup a work folder, browse to it and, use
the "Save" button to park the output PDF in its new home.

File "file001_bis.pdf" is now the first portion of the article.
Repeat to the process to get the other article "columns".

With all "column" PDFs produced you could use Acrobat's Batch Sequence(s) to bulk load
document information, OCR and set all to Fast Web View (needed as the PDFs go to the web).
It makes a difference if the host server is configured to page serve; but, that's not Acrobat "stuff".

Ahh! Such a long and tedious process! Is there some nifty programmatic approach?
Maybe... but that's a discussion you'd have to have with a "PDF" developer.
Not one myself, maybe someday after I get through the other stuff on my "learn" list .
Regardless, those folks in the "Dev Crew" never cease to delight and amaze me 8^)

Be well...

the short & simple way: open a TIFF in photoshop (use ps elements) and delete unwanted image portions. Lots of flexibility to add images and rearrange the page. Experiment with despeckle. Save as PDF. With Acrobat reduce PDF file size.