PDF to Text

Extract plain text from a PDF for free.

or drop PDF here

Runs in your browser when possible; falls back to secure server processing.

Pull the plain text out of a PDF and save it as a .txt file, in the browser, without uploading the document. PDF to Text reads the text layer of each page and gives you the words in reading order, one line of text per visual line of the page, with paragraph gaps preserved. It is the quickest way to get a PDF's contents into a notes app, a script, or a search index. A scanned PDF has no text layer, so the output will be empty — run it through OCR PDF first.

How to use PDF to Text

Click "Select PDF file" and choose the PDF to read.
Click "Extract Text" and wait while the pages are read.
Copy the text from the box, or download it as a .txt file.

Who it is for

PDF to Text is for getting the words out of a PDF and into somewhere else: a notes app, a spreadsheet, a script, a search index, a translation tool. It is the quickest path when you do not care about layout and do care about the characters being right.

How it works

The text layer of each page is read by pdf.js, and fragments are grouped into visual lines by baseline position.
Each visual line becomes one line of output, with a blank line where the spacing suggests a paragraph break, so the result keeps the page's shape.
Pages are separated by a blank line, and the file is saved as .txt with Windows line endings because a .txt is opened in Notepad more often than anywhere else.

What it cannot do

A scan has no text layer, so the output is empty and the tool points you at OCR PDF instead.
Paragraphs are not unwrapped — a sentence that wrapped in the PDF stays on several lines.
Tables come out as running text, because a PDF stores characters by position, not rows and columns. PDF to Excel is the tool for tables.
Text colour and styling are not represented; it is plain text.

Frequently asked questions

The output is empty — why?

The PDF is almost certainly a scan. A scanned page is a photograph, so there are no characters in the file to extract. Run the document through OCR PDF to recognise the text first, then extract from that result.

Are the line breaks and paragraphs preserved?

Line breaks follow the page: each visual line of the PDF becomes one line of text, so a paragraph that wrapped across three lines comes out as three lines. Blank lines separate the paragraphs the tool can infer, so the result is readable prose in the same shape as the page rather than one long run-on line. If you need reflowed paragraphs, paste the text into a word processor and let it rewrap.

What happens to tables and columns?

They come out as running text. A PDF stores text as individually placed characters, not as rows and columns, so a two-column layout often reads across the columns rather than down each one. For tabular data, PDF to Excel is the right tool because it rebuilds the grid from position.

Does it work on a password-protected PDF?

Not until the password is removed. An encrypted document cannot be read, so unlock a file you own first with Unlock PDF, then extract the text from the copy.

Is my document uploaded?

No. The text is read by pdf.js inside your browser and the .txt file is created on your device, so the PDF never leaves it. No account, no watermark, no task limit.