PDF to Text Converter

Extract all readable text from a PDF file. Read it in the browser, copy to clipboard, or download as a plain .txt file. Free, no sign-up, works in your browser.

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How to extract text from a PDF

PDFs store content in a structured binary format that is not directly readable as plain text. This tool uses PDF.js to parse the file and extract the text layer from every page, then displays it in a readable viewer so you can read, search, copy, or download the content.

Step-by-step instructions

  1. Upload your PDF. Click the upload area or drag your PDF onto it. Files stay in your browser — nothing is sent to a server.
  2. Click Extract Text. The tool reads every page and extracts all selectable text. You will see a progress bar while it works.
  3. Read, copy or download. The extracted text appears in a scrollable viewer. Use Copy All to copy it to your clipboard, or Download .txt to save it as a plain text file.

When does PDF to text work well?

This tool works best on PDFs that were created digitally — exported from Word, Excel, Google Docs, or similar software. These files contain a real text layer that can be extracted cleanly.

Scanned PDFs are essentially images of pages. They do not contain a text layer unless OCR (Optical Character Recognition) has already been applied. If you upload a scanned document and get no text or garbled output, the PDF does not contain selectable text — it is a photograph of the page.

Common uses for PDF text extraction

  • Copying content for editing: Extract text from a report or article to edit it in a word processor without retyping everything.
  • Data extraction: Pull data out of PDF invoices, bank statements, or spreadsheet exports for use in other tools.
  • Accessibility: Convert PDF content to plain text for use with screen readers or text-to-speech applications.
  • Searching large documents: Some PDF viewers have limited search. Extracting to text lets you search with any tool.
  • Translation: Paste the extracted text into a translation tool to translate the content of a PDF.

Why does the extracted text look wrong?

PDF text extraction is not always perfect. Some PDFs use non-standard encoding, embedded custom fonts, or split words across multiple text objects in unusual ways. This can produce garbled characters, missing spaces, or reordered words in the output. This is a limitation of the PDF format itself and is not unique to this tool.

Multi-column layouts can also cause issues — the text from different columns may be interleaved rather than flowing column by column. If the formatting matters, it is usually better to copy-paste from the PDF viewer directly for small amounts of text.

Privacy

Your PDF is processed entirely within your browser using PDF.js, which is the same open-source library used by Firefox's built-in PDF viewer. The file is never uploaded to any server. All extraction happens locally on your device.

Frequently asked questions

Common questions about extracting text from PDF files.

Why is there no text in the output?

If the extracted text is empty, your PDF is most likely a scanned document — it is made of images of pages rather than actual text. To extract text from a scanned PDF you would need to run OCR (Optical Character Recognition) on it first. This tool cannot perform OCR.

Does it keep the formatting?

No. The output is plain text with no formatting — no bold, no tables, no columns, no images. Line breaks are added between pages. If you need formatted output, copy from the PDF viewer directly or use a dedicated PDF-to-Word tool.

Can I extract text from a specific page only?

Not directly — this tool extracts all pages at once. If you need just one page, use the Split PDF tool to extract that page first, then run the text extraction on the single-page PDF.

Is there a page or file size limit?

There is no set limit. Very large PDFs with many pages may take longer to process. The tool works page by page so even long documents will eventually complete.

Can I extract text from a password-protected PDF?

No. Password-protected PDFs cannot be processed. Remove the password protection first using appropriate software.

Is my file uploaded to a server?

No. PDF.js runs entirely in your browser. Your file never leaves your device.