PDF to Text: Extract Text from a PDF Online
Extract the text layer from a PDF in your browser. Copy or download the result as a plain text file.
Pull readable text out of any PDF without uploading it anywhere. Drop the file, click Extract, and the tool reads the embedded text layer page by page using PDF.js. The output appears in a copyable, scrollable text area with a live character and word count. Download as a .txt file in one click. If your PDF is scanned or image-based, the tool detects the empty text layer and points you to the OCR tool instead.
PDFs store content in two fundamentally different ways. A digitally created PDF (from Word, InDesign, or a PDF printer) embeds an actual text layer alongside any graphics. A scanned PDF is essentially a sequence of images with no selectable text at all. This tool targets the first kind: it reads the embedded text layer directly using PDF.js running in your browser, which means extraction is fast (no OCR pass needed) and the file never leaves your device.
Text extraction preserves the reading order encoded in the PDF's content stream, which usually matches the visual layout but is not guaranteed to. Multi-column documents may interleave columns, footnotes may appear mid-paragraph, and headers or footers may land in unexpected spots. Those are structural artifacts of how the PDF was exported, not errors in extraction. For post-processing the text, a plain text editor or a find-and-replace tool handles clean-up quickly.
Page markers (--- Page N ---) are on by default so you can orient yourself in long documents. Toggle them off before copying if you need clean output for a downstream tool. The word and character counts update instantly once extraction finishes. Single-click copy puts everything on your clipboard; the download button saves a .txt file named after the original PDF.
- 1
Upload your PDF
Drop a PDF onto the page or click to choose one. The tool reads the page count locally before extraction begins.
- 2
Choose whether to include page markers
Toggle the page marker checkbox. When on, each page's text is preceded by a '--- Page N ---' line so you can navigate the output.
- 3
Extract and copy or download
Click Extract text. Progress shows page by page. When done, copy everything to the clipboard or download a .txt file named after the PDF.
Searching a long PDF
Extract the text into a plain file and run a grep or Ctrl+F search across it without opening a PDF reader.
Feeding PDF content to an AI
Copy extracted text directly into a chat interface or paste it into a document for summarization or analysis.
Archiving report text
Save the text layer of quarterly reports or contracts as .txt for lightweight storage alongside the original PDF.
Accessibility and reformatting
Pull text out of a poorly formatted PDF and reformat it in a word processor with consistent fonts and spacing.
Is my PDF uploaded anywhere?
No. The file is read entirely in your browser using PDF.js. Nothing is sent to a server, and the file is discarded when you close or reset the tool.
What if the tool says it found no text?
Your PDF is likely scanned or image-based and has no embedded text layer. Use the Image to Text (OCR) tool at /tools/image-to-text to extract text from scanned pages using Tesseract in the browser.
Will the extracted text match the visual layout exactly?
Not always. Extraction follows the PDF content stream order, which can differ from the visual reading order in multi-column layouts, tables, or documents with floating elements. The text is accurate but may need minor reformatting.
What do the page markers look like and can I turn them off?
Each page is preceded by a line like '--- Page 1 ---' using plain ASCII hyphens. Uncheck the page markers toggle before extracting to omit them entirely from the output.
Is there a page or file size limit?
There is no hard limit. Text extraction is fast even for long PDFs because it reads the text stream rather than rendering pixels. Very large files may take a few seconds to load into the browser.