Tutorial: How to convert PDFs (TestKing, ActualExam, ExamSheet, etc) to Visual CertExam Suite VCE files [v2.0]

The original version of this tutorial has been written by OlegNS. A lot of thanks to OlegNS. I have only amended and added some screenshots to it [Jim, www.examcollection.com].

Let's assume that you already have the PDF-file that you wish to convert to the VCE format.

First of all, you need the following software:

1. Adobe Acrobat 6 Professional or later (or different software that can save PDF-file as RTF-file).
2. Elcomsoft Advanced PDF Password Recovery (only if your PDF-file is read-only).
3. Microsoft Word.
4. and, of course, Visual CertExam Suite (VCES).

Part A. Checking the PDF-file permissions.

1. Open your PDF-file with Adobe Acrobat 6 Professional or Adobe Acrobat Reader.
2. In the "File" menu, select "Document Properties...".
3. In the "Document Properties" dialog box, click "Security".
4. Check the value of the "Content Copying or Extraction" property, if it is "Allowed" then you can go to Part B of this tutorial.
5. If the "Content Copying or Extraction" property is "Not Allowed" then you need to use Elcomsoft Advanced PDF Password Recovery in order to remove copy protection.
   

Part B. Saving the PDF file as an RTF-file.

1. Open your PDF-file with Adobe Acrobat 6 Professional (not Acrobat Reader).
2. From the "File" menu, select "Save As...".
3. In the "Save As" dialog box, from the "Save as Type" combobox choose "Rich Text Format (*.rtf)".
   
4. Your PDF-file will be saved as an RTF-file.

Part C. Preparing the RTF-file for import.

The main problem is that almost all PDF-files (testking, actualexam, examsheet, etc.) don't have a regular structure. Therefore, we need to prepare them before we can begin the import process.

1. Read the following section from the Visual CertExam Suite help: "Visual CertExam Designer -> Exam Files -> Import Wizard -> Source file format". It describes the source file format for the VCES Import Wizard.
2. Open the RTF-file with Microsoft Word and make some changes in order to adapt it for the source file format:
   
   1. Replace all text "QUESTION NO: " (with tail space) with "Q".
   2. Make sure that all question numbers in the RTF-file have the following format: "Q1 Q2 Q3 and so on" (without space between "Q" and the number) and located on a separate line. Besides, the questions must be numbered one after another starting with 1 and without gaps.
   3. Make sure that each question has the structure described in the "Source file format" section of the Visual CertExam Suite help.

Part D. Importing the RTF file into Visual CertExam Designer.

1. Launch Visual CertExam Designer and from the "File" menu, select "Import...", then click "Next".
2. On the step 2, select the "Rich Text Format file (*.rtf)" radio button.
   
3. On the step 3, click "Browse" and select your RTF file. Then click "Next".
   
4. On the step 4, select the radio button "Q-prefixed number without a dot on a separate line (for example: 'Q1', 'Q2')". Clear the "Parse text located above..." checkbox, then click "Next".
   
5. If all is done right, you should view the import preview on the step 5. Click "Next" and then click "Import".
   
6. From the "File" menu, click "Save" to save your VCE-file.
   

The import process is complete and now you can take the created test using Visual CertExam Manager.