toolkit & methods for extracting text bounds in 'searchable pdf'

Question

I have a "searchable pdf" aka 'image files with invisible but selectable text'. (When this file is opened in Acrobat, I am alerted "You are viewing this document in PDF/A mode.")

I need to extract the bounding rectangle of each word in this document. Any suggested toolkits and the methods for accessing the "invisi-text" words' bounding-boxes?

I would prefer tools in java, but appreciate any suggestions.

Answer 1

Check out the iText library: http://www.lowagie.com/iText/

Answer 2

Acrobat's javascript libraries look to be the most straightforward, especially:

getPageNthWordQuads

which works on a "searchable pdf".

Would be nice if the acrobat javascript library was available as java calls...

Answer 3

PdfBox and JPedal also offer text extraction methods.