About PDF to Text
Copying text out of a PDF by hand often breaks lines in odd places, picks up headers and footers, or simply doesn't work on long documents. This tool reads the text layer of the PDF and rebuilds it line by line, keeping paragraphs apart, then saves it as a plain UTF-8 text file you can open anywhere. You can also copy it straight from the preview. Choose all pages, odd or even pages, or ranges such as 2-5, and optionally add a marker before each page. It works on documents created digitally. Scanned pages are pictures of text, so they need OCR.
How to Use It
- 01
Add a PDF
Drop one or more PDFs into the box, or tap to choose them.
- 02
Pick pages
Keep all pages or choose a range, and turn on page markers if you want them.
- 03
Copy or download
Press Extract Text, then copy the text from the preview or download the .txt file.
Questions
Why does it say no text was found?
The PDF is probably a scan, so each page is a picture rather than real text. Use the Scanned PDF to Text tool, which recognises the letters with OCR.
Does it keep formatting like bold, tables and columns?
No. The output is plain text. Line breaks and paragraphs are kept, and table cells come out in reading order separated by spaces.
Can it read password-protected PDFs?
Not directly. Remove the password with the Unlock PDF tool first, using the password you know.
Which languages work?
Any language whose text is stored in the PDF, including Chinese, Arabic and Hindi. The text file is saved as UTF-8, so every character is kept.
Is my PDF uploaded?
No. The text is read in your browser and the PDF never leaves your device.