PDF to Text Converter
Copy the text out of a PDF or save it as a .txt file. Your file stays on your device.
- Runs in your browser
- No sign-up
- No watermark
PDF to Text reads the text that is stored inside a PDF and gives it back as plain text. You can copy it, or download it as a .txt file. You can extract the whole document or only some pages, and add a heading before each page to keep track of where text came from.
This only works for PDFs that contain real text. A scan or a photo of a page is just a picture, and there is no text to extract, so the tool will report that nothing was found. It does not do OCR. Layout such as columns and tables is flattened into lines, so the order of text may need tidying. Your file is read in your browser and is not uploaded.
How to use PDF to Text
- Choose a PDF from your device, or drop it onto the box.
- Leave the page box empty for every page, or enter pages such as 1-3, 7.
- Select Extract text.
- Copy the text, or download it as a .txt file.
Frequently asked questions
Is my PDF uploaded?
No. The text is read in your browser and the file never leaves your device.
Why did it find no text?
The PDF is probably a scan or made of images, so it has no text layer to read. This tool does not do OCR (text recognition from pictures).
Will tables and columns keep their layout?
Not exactly. The text is returned as lines in reading order, so tables and multi-column pages can come out mixed or out of order and may need a manual check.
Can I extract text from only some pages?
Yes. Enter pages such as 1-3, 7. Leave the box empty to read the whole document.
Why do some characters look wrong?
Some PDFs store text with custom fonts that do not map back to normal letters. In that case the extracted text can contain odd symbols, and the PDF itself may copy badly in other programs too.
Can it read a password-protected PDF?
No. Remove the password first, then extract the text.