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PDF to Text

Pull the text out of a PDF as plain text you can copy or save as a .txt file.

PDF
Drop a PDF here or click to browse
or paste from clipboard (Ctrl+V) · PDF
Files stay in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.

How to convert a PDF to text online

  1. Add your PDF

    Drop the PDF onto the tool, or browse or paste it from your clipboard. Text extraction starts straight away, page by page.

  2. Review the text

    Read the result in the output box, and switch the page separators off if you want one continuous block instead of page markers.

  3. Copy or download

    Click Copy text to put everything on your clipboard, or Download .txt to save it as a plain text file named after the PDF.

Why use this tool

Page separators you can toggle

Each page is marked with a plain separator line by default. Turn the toggle off for one continuous block of text.

Page-by-page progress

Long documents show which page is being read as it happens, so a 150-page report never looks stuck.

Copy or save as .txt

Put the whole result on your clipboard with one click, or download it as a plain text file named after the PDF. A word and character count sits under the text.

Honest about scanned PDFs

A scan carries pictures of words, not words. When a document yields almost nothing, the tool says so and points to a tool that reads text from images instead of pretending it worked.

A plain 200-page cap

Documents longer than 200 pages are not rejected. The first 200 pages are read and the tool says so plainly.

Extracts without a server

The PDF is opened and read on your device. Free to use, nothing uploaded, no signup.

About this tool

This tool pulls the text layer out of one PDF and turns it into plain text you can actually use. Drop a file and extraction starts immediately, page by page, with a progress line for long documents. The result appears in a scrollable box with a separator marking each page, a toggle to switch those markers off, and a word and character count underneath. Copy the whole thing to your clipboard or download it as a .txt file named after the source document.

Plain text travels where a PDF cannot. Quote a paragraph from a report without fighting a viewer's clumsy selection, archive contracts and invoices as small searchable text files, or feed the output into other tools: run it through the word counter for detailed counts and reading time, or compare two versions of an agreement in text diff.

One honest caveat: this only works when the PDF actually contains text. Documents made from scans or photos carry pictures of words rather than words, so they yield almost nothing; when that happens the tool says so and points you to image to text, which recognizes the words in an image. Documents up to 200 pages are read in full, and longer ones stop there with a plain note, so cut big files down with split PDF first if you need later sections. Everything happens on your device, which matters when the document is a contract, a payslip, or anything else you would rather not hand to a stranger's server.

Frequently asked questions

Why is the output empty or almost empty?
The PDF almost certainly has no text layer. Documents that were scanned or photographed store each page as an image, so there is no text to extract. Save a page as an image and run it through image to text, which recognizes the words in a picture.
Will the layout be preserved?
No. The output is plain text in reading order. Line breaks are kept where the document declares them, but columns, tables, headers, and footers flatten into one stream. Expect clean, usable text, not a faithful copy of the page.
Is there a page limit?
Yes. Documents up to 200 pages are read in full. Longer documents stop after the first 200 pages and the tool says so plainly. To read later sections, cut the document down with split PDF first.
Are my files uploaded anywhere?
No. The PDF is opened and read entirely in your browser. It is never uploaded, never stored, and never leaves your device, which makes the tool safe for contracts and other confidential documents.
What files does the tool accept?
One PDF at a time. Password-protected files cannot be opened and show a plain error instead. The output downloads as a UTF-8 .txt file named after the source document.

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