GLOBETROTTERDK  Trapeze unfortunately appears to be the best software on offer for Mac users wishing to convert .pdf files to .doc or .rtf format.

It really is a shame as the developer is very responsive to users needs and problems (also developer of Amnesty). Only about 1/3 of the .pdf files originally formatted in .doc or .rtf are reconverted in passable shape. Most either end up with mangled formatting or with unreadable text (maybe in Symbol font).

There are Windows programs that are able to convert from .pdf to .doc or .rtf around 98% - 100% of the time with perfect format recreation. Be careful if you go that route as there is a fair amount of vaporware in this category.  (Version 1.3.1)

ANONYMOUS  I used the trial version (converts up to 3 pages only) to convert a pdf to rich text. I used Simple Text to make a few quick changes, saved as pdf again and had no problems at all. Worked flawlessly.  (Version 1.2.3)

ANONYMOUS  In a random test of a PDF, when the converted RTF file was opened in Word, a substantial amount of the text appeared in the Symbol font which made it look like Greek. Not worth spending money on an application that cannot get its fonts right.  (Version 1.2.3)

ANONYMOUS  It seems to do the job nicely on english PDF files. However, it will produce an error ("The file 'your file name.rtf' because a file system error occurred while trying to write the converted document.") if a converted file of the same name already exists. So, you must either trash the converted file of the same name or rename it before attempting to convert its PDF again. It would be more convenient if Trapeze simply overwrote the file or prompted the user for a new file name.

The error message also causes Trapeze to become stuck in the background if another app is brought to the front. One must click on Trapeze in the dock to bring it to the front in such a case as clicking on it with the mouse won't work. Then to dismiss the error message you must hit return on the keyboard.

All in all, it does a nice job of extracting text, but minor bugs could be frustrating over time. It's no doubt a small price to pay for those who must do this sort of text extraction on a regular basis, and for casual use it's small text tag at the bottom of the converted document is unobtrusive.  (Version 1.2.2)