A client approached me about getting content from pdfs that had been generated but where the original document had been lost. The first option I gave them was a tool we had used in a number of circumstances – PDF-XCHANGE editor – available here
This isn’t a free tool but you get what you pay for – its a capable editor with a range of features including
Export to image
Export to MSWORD
Export to MSEXCEL
Export to MSPowerpoint
In this case the export to MS Word sorted the problem. I noticed that the option an OCR was also available although this would relate to pdf files with images.
Handily the app also integrates with your scanner – allow you to scan then ocr.
Note that two OCR engines are available in PDF-XChange Editor – the default OCR engine, which is available to all users, and the Enhanced OCR engine, which is available as an optional plugin. The Enhanced OCR engine is significantly faster and more accurate than the default OCR engine and it contains several extra features.