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I am very interested in looking more into selecting/highlighting tex generated PDFs. I always have trouble with this, and it seems like it shouldn't be a problem.

Does anyone know of any resources/efforts underway to try and have tex "help" a pdf reader to select math/boxes/text correctly?

EDIT: This is related to my previous question

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user79950
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  • I think this answer is related, http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/233390/in-which-way-have-fake-spaces-made-it-to-actual-use/233397#233397. It uses the accsupp package. – Steven B. Segletes Feb 03 '17 at 00:43
  • Thanks for this @StevenB.Segletes - Isn't that to replace what is selected however? I'm looking more for something that instructs the PDF reader on how to select things in the first place, to avoid issues like: http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/252279/pdf-selection-issues – user79950 Feb 03 '17 at 20:28
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    I don't really see how this question differs with the one you previously asked, and that was closed. You're going to get basically the same answer (quoting Joseph Wright's comment): "This issue is to do with the algorithms the PDF viewers use to determine where lines of text are. TeX can't influence that, so it's really a viewer issue." In short: no, there isn't any "helper" for pdf to select the "right" portion of text, it's a reader issue. – Clément Feb 03 '17 at 21:13
  • This question is specifically asking if anyone knows of any efforts to have tex help the PDF reader. Your comment seems to suggest that no one will know of any, because it is impossible. Well then my question becomes - why is it impossible? What if I very specifically built a package, and then specifically designed a pdf reader that would make use of the "extra" stuff provided by that package? – user79950 Feb 03 '17 at 22:05
  • Yes, you are right. It would seem I did not fully comprehend your question. I cannot add anything... – Steven B. Segletes Feb 03 '17 at 23:17
  • @user79950: IMHO you ask for features in PDF that would fix this issue - and how to use them with TeX. But it's mostly a question about PDF features, and that belongs on [so]. – Martin Schröder Feb 07 '17 at 22:35
  • @MartinSchröder late reply, but yes, a PDF reader could in principle fix this itself. However, out of ALL of the pdf readers that exist, NONE of them have taken up the challange? It might be made easier if tex maybe wrapped a "selection box" around each line, and then each PDF reader need only select according to selection box boundaries, if they are included? I cant believe Im the only person who wishes selection in TEX generated documents was better. – user79950 Apr 26 '18 at 20:23

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