AT GUIDE PDF - Enabling highlight & copy / paste action - super easy

You purchased the AT Guide PDF and are trying to plan your trip. Lets copy and paste this hostel address into google so I can bookmark it on my Google Maps.

Uh Oh, right click doesn't work, CTRL+C doesn't work, highlighting doesn't work. What give?

DISCLAIMER:
Before anyone gets their gaiters in a twist this does NOT assist anyone in stealing, sharing or pirating the guide. There are other embedded checks in the AT guide that will point back to you if you share the guide for free. GravityGear will know you shared it; saving $15 is not worth going to court over. Buy the guide and support the work that goes into making it.


So... How do I unlock the ability to copy stuff from the file?

All you need is a GOOGLE account. Who doesn't have a google account these days...

1) Go to GOOGLE DRIVE. Login with your credentials if asked.

2) Drag and drop the AT Guide PDF into your web browser, this should upload the file to your Drive. You can also click New File > File Upload and select it.

3) Once done uploading, left click the PDF and it will open a preview of the guide.

4) At the top right is a printer icon, click that or use the shortcut CTRL + P on the keyboard. Just clicking Download wont work.

5) Go to CHANGE... and select Save As PDF from the drop down.

6) Save the AT Guide PDF back to your computer.

Viola, you can now highlight, copy and paste info from the AT Guide.

Again fair warning. Do not share or copy your guide to others. There is hidden watermark and metadata you cannot get rid of without the correct software.

The anti copy feature is the largest bug in the guide. Trying to call a phone number from the guide on the trail is maddening and made me scream out bad words at AWOL as it should be clickable to allow direct dial, addresses should be copyable to put into map apps such as Google. There really is no excuse for this. My hiking mate lost her paper AWOL guide and received a 'emergency' copy via email on trail, and WOW copyprotect free, which allowed so much quicker access to needed services and also so much more useful then the intentionally hobbled version that, though it is useful, caused so much unneeded frustration, for someone who had no other intention ever then just using it as a personal guide for his AT thru hike.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Starchild

The anti copy feature is the largest bug in the guide. Trying to call a phone number from the guide on the trail is maddening and made me scream out bad words at AWOL as it should be clickable to allow direct dial, addresses should be copyable to put into map apps such as Google. There really is no excuse for this. My hiking mate lost her paper AWOL guide and received a 'emergency' copy via email on trail, and WOW copyprotect free, which allowed so much quicker access to needed services and also so much more useful then the intentionally hobbled version that, though it is useful, caused so much unneeded frustration, for someone who had no other intention ever then just using it as a personal guide for his AT thru hike.

---

Not sure why you are having such a hard time, even with the protected version. Mine has the highlighted phone numbers, links, emails, gps, etc. with one tap functionality. Super easy to use. Do you have an older year version? Mine is the 2017, maybe the older versions had different links.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by soumodeler

Not sure why you are having such a hard time, even with the protected version. Mine has the highlighted phone numbers, links, emails, gps, etc. with one tap functionality. Super easy to use. Do you have an older year version? Mine is the 2017, maybe the older versions had different links.

---

My thru and guide was in 2013 and that lack of functionality was exceeding annoying. This willful and intentional loss of functionality which added so much unneeded frustration to me and I'm sure many others, is something that takes time to heal, especially since it was caused by a fellow AT brother. God help us all.

The anti-copy feature of The AT Guide is a real pain. I tried doing a copy/paste from it of mail drop addresses. I could not do it. I got real frustrated and bought Guthook's app instead. Thanks for the hack!

I saved it in goggle docs I think.

Thom

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dbfl87

.

.

Again fair warning. Do not share or copy your guide to others. There is hidden watermark and metadata you cannot get rid of without the correct software.

---

Certainly not suggesting to copy the others.
But people have more than one device sometimes (tablet, PC, phone) and making copies for yourself to use across your devices is within fair use guidelines generally.

Is that possible here to do simply?

I took a book once on Kindle that I could not copy to PDF. Screenshotted all pages, converted to PDF and compile them in order to take a PDF from the Kindle so I could have it on all my various devices in easy to use pdf format. Quite a pain. But where there a will, there's a way.

I actually use screenshots to copy and save things from protected articles all the time on the internet for work for convenience of not having to look up again.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MuddyWaters

Certainly not suggesting to copy the others.
But people have more than one device sometimes (tablet, PC, phone) and making copies for yourself to use across your devices is within fair use guidelines generally.

Is that possible here to do simply?

---

When you purchase the pdf guide, an email comes with a link to download the guide. You also get multiple copies (I think 5 copies?) for the ability to store the guide on multiple electronic devices.

I don't work for antigrav or anyone associated with the guide. I bought their guide and I will use their guide on any device I own as I please. Even though I have the ability to give as many copies as i want to others, I wont.

I wont try to play arbiter for others actions. If someone wants to give their guide for free to everyone at Trail Days, i'm not complaining but remember your copy is digitally signed so they know who is sharing them :)

I pay for the m

usic I enjoy.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Starchild

The anti copy feature is the largest bug in the guide. Trying to call a phone number from the guide on the trail is maddening and made me scream out bad words at AWOL as it should be clickable to allow direct dial, addresses should be copyable to put into map apps such as Google. There really is no excuse for this. My hiking mate lost her paper AWOL guide and received a 'emergency' copy via email on trail, and WOW copyprotect free, which allowed so much quicker access to needed services and also so much more useful then the intentionally hobbled version that, though it is useful, caused so much unneeded frustration, for someone who had no other intention ever then just using it as a personal guide for his AT thru hike.

---

It's not a "bug."

It is primarily a PRINT product. You can't make a phone call or visit a website from a printed guide.

That AWOL makes a digital version available to you, should elicit a Thank You. Not a whining complaint because it doesn't function in every way you think it must.

Next time, try this if all you have is a PDF or other static format. Go into your pack, take out a writing device and a piece of paper (doesn't weigh much!). Write down the phone number you see on the PDF. Punch in those digits on your cell phone. Voila! You've made a (gasp!) phone call. Same theory works for websites.

Very helpful guide, dbfl87. Now I can copy the info from the guide and paste into the mailing label website I use for my resupply packages.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by soumodeler

Not sure why you are having such a hard time, even with the protected version. Mine has the highlighted phone numbers, links, emails, gps, etc. with one tap functionality. Super easy to use. Do you have an older year version? Mine is the 2017, maybe the older versions had different links.

---

glad to know the issue is resolved.