Does this work on scanned PDFs?

No. It does not run OCR. If you cannot select the words in a PDF viewer, this tool has little or nothing to extract.

Can I extract only some pages or choose a layout mode?

No. Every page is read, and there is only one output: plain text. Split the PDF first if you want fewer pages.

Will columns stay in reading order?

Not guaranteed. The extractor follows the PDF's text, and sidebars or multi-column pages can come out in a messy order. Read it before you reuse it.

Is the PDF processed only in my browser?

No. It is uploaded over HTTPS, the text is read for the request, and the file is discarded. It is not kept as a document.

Is there a file size limit?

Files up to 500 MB are accepted. Very large PDFs take longer to upload, and the whole text appears in one box, so splitting a huge file first is easier to work with.

How do I save the text?

Click Copy to Clipboard, or Download as .txt to save it as extracted_text.txt. The text is UTF-8, so accented letters and other alphabets are kept.

PDF to Text — Extract the Text from a PDF

Part of PDF tools: See all PDF tools.

What is PDF to Text?

Extract the text already embedded in a PDF and show it as plain text you can copy or download. This reads text the PDF contains. It does not run OCR, so a scan that is only a picture of words comes back empty or almost empty. The file is uploaded over HTTPS, read for this request, and discarded. There is no account.

How to use PDF to Text

Open PDF to Text and upload the PDF.
Click Extract Text. There is no layout mode and no page picker. Text from every page is included, with a blank line between pages that had text.
Read the result. If it says no text was found, the pages are probably images, and this tool will not type them for you.
Copy the text or download it. Delete any pages you did not need.

Why use this tool?

Use this when you need the words from a digital PDF in a notes file, an email, or another document. If you need an editable Word file with some of the layout, use PDF to Word instead. If the PDF is a scan, neither plain extraction nor PDF to Word will invent text that is not in the file.

PDF to Text — In-Depth Guide

PDF to Text is the plain-text version of a PDF that already has real text. Reports, letters, and contracts exported from a word processor usually work. A phone photo saved as a PDF usually does not, because the page is an image and this tool does not recognize characters.

The output is the words, not the layout. Headings, columns, and tables can collapse into lines. That is expected. Use PDF to Word when you need a document you can edit with some of the original structure, and use PDF to JPG when you need a picture of the page instead of the words.

Frequently asked questions

Does this work on scanned PDFs?: No. It does not run OCR. If you cannot select the words in a PDF viewer, this tool has little or nothing to extract.
Can I extract only some pages or choose a layout mode?: No. Every page is read, and there is only one output: plain text. Split the PDF first if you want fewer pages.
Will columns stay in reading order?: Not guaranteed. The extractor follows the PDF's text, and sidebars or multi-column pages can come out in a messy order. Read it before you reuse it.
Is the PDF processed only in my browser?: No. It is uploaded over HTTPS, the text is read for the request, and the file is discarded. It is not kept as a document.
Is there a file size limit?: Files up to 500 MB are accepted. Very large PDFs take longer to upload, and the whole text appears in one box, so splitting a huge file first is easier to work with.
How do I save the text?: Click Copy to Clipboard, or Download as .txt to save it as extracted_text.txt. The text is UTF-8, so accented letters and other alphabets are kept.

Also try

Related tools that work well with this one: