PDF to Text
Read the text out of any PDF, in your browser. Stays on your device. Nothing is uploaded.
Choose files
or drop them here
Ctrl+V to paste from the clipboard
up to 20 files, 25.0 MB each
Stays on your device. Nothing is uploaded.
How to pdf to text
- Choose your PDF, or drop it on the page.
- Optionally limit the extraction to certain pages, like 1-3, 7.
- Press Convert. The selectable text of each page is read out.
- Download the .txt file, one marked section per page.
How text extraction works
A PDF stores text as positioned drawing instructions, not as a document. This tool reads those instructions back through PDF.js in reading order and writes them out as plain text, one clearly marked section per page. Everything the document exposes as real text comes through: headings, paragraphs, table cells, footnotes.
The output is plain UTF-8 text, which makes it the friendly format for everything downstream: pasting into a translator, feeding a search index, diffing two versions of a contract, or giving an editor something to work with without a PDF viewer.
A useful habit: extract first, then search the text for a keyword before reading ninety pages. The page markers in the output tell you exactly which page to open.
Limits and honest notes
Scanned pages have no text layer, so they come out empty. That is not a bug; the words live in the image. Run those pages through the OCR tool instead, which reads the pixels.
Complex layouts (multi-column magazines, tables spanning pages) extract in a best-effort reading order that may need light clean-up. Text drawn as curves or outlines cannot be extracted by any tool.
Up to 20 files and 25 MB each per run. The extraction happens in this tab; nothing is uploaded.
Frequently asked questions
Why did my scanned PDF produce no text?
A scan is a photograph of a page; there is no text layer to extract. Use the OCR tool, which reads the pixels on your device.
Can I extract only some pages?
Yes: list them in the Pages field, like 1-3, 7. Leave it empty for the whole document.
Is the layout preserved?
Text is extracted in reading order with page markers. Exact line breaks and columns are simplified; that is the nature of plain text.
Is my document uploaded?
No. Extraction runs entirely in your browser.
Private by design
Stays on your device. Nothing is uploaded. The conversion runs in your browser: open the Network tab while you convert and you will see that nothing is sent. No account, no watermark, no daily limit.