PDF to Text — Extract Text from PDF
Pull the text out of any PDF. Lines and paragraphs are rebuilt in reading order, page by page, ready to copy or download as a plain text file. Nothing is uploaded.
Drop a PDF here or
Your file never leaves your device. Everything happens in this browser tab: no upload, no server copy.
How to extract text from a PDF
- Drop a PDF or choose one from your device.
- The text appears page by page. Turn on "Join wrapped lines" for flowing paragraphs.
- Copy the text or download it as a .txt file.
When PDF text extraction works best
PDFs created from documents (Word, Google Docs, web pages, invoices) contain real text, and extraction is fast and exact. Lines are rebuilt from the position of each text fragment, so most single-column documents come out in natural reading order.
Scanned PDFs are images of pages and contain no text layer. If a page comes out empty, convert it to an image with our PDF to JPG tool and run it through Image to Text (OCR).
Multi-column layouts, tables and text boxes can come out in an unexpected order, because PDFs store text by position, not by structure. Page markers make it easy to find where each page starts.
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Frequently asked questions
Why is my extracted text empty?
The PDF is probably scanned, with pages stored as images. Use OCR to read the text.
Does it keep formatting?
No. The output is plain text with line breaks, without fonts, colors or images.
Can it handle password-protected PDFs?
Not encrypted ones that require a password to open.
Is my PDF uploaded?
No. Text is extracted in your browser.