This free PDF to Text tool pulls the real, selectable text out of a PDF's existing text layer and hands you back a plain .txt file — useful for pasting content elsewhere, searching or indexing a document's contents, or feeding text into another tool. It reads text that already exists in the PDF; it does not recognize text inside a scanned image (see the OCR distinction above, or read our full guide: How PDF Text Extraction Differs From OCR).
or use the button below to add files
Drag & drop a file here
or use the button below to choose a file
File selected
Accepts PDF · up to 20 MB each
Processing your file…
This usually only takes a moment.
Your file is ready
·
Your file is processed on our server and deleted automatically afterward — see the privacy note below.
Overview
About PDF to Text
Extract the actual text content of a PDF into a plain .txt file. This tool reads the PDF's existing text layer — the same text you could already select and copy in a PDF viewer — it does not run OCR (optical character recognition) and cannot read text out of a scanned page image. See the comparison below for exactly what that distinction means.
| Feature | PDF to Text (this tool) | OCR |
|---|---|---|
| What it reads | The PDF's existing embedded text layer | Pixels in a page image |
| Works on scanned pages | No — no text layer to read | Yes, that's its purpose |
| Speed | Fast — no image recognition involved | Slower, more computationally expensive |
| Accuracy on a real text layer | Exact — the original characters, not a recognition guess | Depends on image quality/recognition accuracy |
Compatibility
Supported Formats
Accepts PDF (.pdf) input up to 20 MB and 200 pages. Output is a single .txt file with all pages' text.
Guide
How to Use PDF to Text
- Choose or drag in a PDF file.
- Click "Convert PDF to Text".
- Download the extracted
.txtfile.
Highlights
Features
- Real text extraction Reads the PDF's actual embedded text layer via Poppler's pdftotext — not a placeholder, not OCR.
- Honest about scanned PDFs Clearly states this tool cannot read text out of a scanned/image-only page — no false promise of OCR.
- Automatic cleanup Your uploaded PDF and the extracted text file are deleted from our server shortly after you download the result.
Applications
Use Cases
- Pull the text out of a report, article, or ebook PDF to paste into another document
- Extract a contract or invoice's text for search, indexing, or copying specific clauses
- Get a quick plain-text copy of a PDF's content without opening a PDF viewer
Good to Know
Limitations
This is text-layer extraction, not OCR — a scanned or image-only PDF has no text to extract and returns little or nothing. Password-protected PDFs that require a password to open are rejected. Very complex multi-column layouts can extract in an imperfect reading order.
Files are processed on our servers and are not shared with third parties. Files are deleted as soon as processing or download finishes. Any leftover temporary file is removed automatically by our cleanup process within the configured retention period (60 minutes). See our Privacy Policy for full details.
Support
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I convert a PDF to text?
Choose or drag in your PDF, click "Convert PDF to Text", and download the resulting .txt file — the whole document is extracted in one step.
Can this extract text from scanned PDFs?
No. A scanned or image-only PDF has no text layer to read — only the pixels of a page image, which this tool does not run OCR on. Extracting text from a scan requires OCR, which this tool does not provide. Running it on a scanned PDF succeeds but returns little or no text, since there is genuinely nothing to extract.
Does it support multi-page PDFs?
Yes — every page's text is extracted in one pass, in the same order the pages appear in the PDF, separated by a page-break marker in the output file.
Does it preserve PDF formatting?
It preserves the PDF's physical layout (line breaks and spacing roughly matching the visual page) rather than pure reading-order text, but it is still plain text — fonts, colors, images, tables-as-tables, and other visual formatting are not preserved, and very complex multi-column layouts can extract in an imperfect order.
Can I extract text from password-protected PDFs?
Not from a PDF that requires a password to open — it's rejected the same way every tool on this site rejects one, since we never ask for or store a PDF password.
Is my PDF kept on your server?
No. Your uploaded PDF and the extracted .txt file are processed temporarily and deleted automatically shortly after you download the result.
Keep Going
Related Tools
- PDF to JPG Turn the first page of a PDF into a JPG at 150 DPI. Only page 1 is converted, and there is no resolution setting.
- PDF to PNG Turn the first page of a PDF into a PNG at 150 DPI, with crisp text and no JPG artifacts. Only page 1 is converted.
- PDF Information Read a PDF's page count, version, encryption flag and file size. The file is uploaded briefly and nothing is kept.
- Image to PDF Combine multiple JPG, PNG, WebP, BMP, or GIF images into one PDF — free and fast.
- PDF Text Density Checker Check whether a PDF's pages have real extractable text or are likely scanned images — free and instant.
- PDF Image Extractor Extract every embedded image from a PDF at its original resolution — free, as a ZIP download.
- PDF Text Editor Click a line of text in your PDF, change or delete it, or add new text, then download the result. It all happens in your browser.
- Bijoy / SutonnyMJ PDF to Unicode Text Read the text of a PDF made with a legacy Bangla font (Bijoy, SutonnyMJ) and convert it to Unicode Bangla. The raw text and the result sit side by side. Runs in your browser.
- PDF Copy-Paste Text Health Checker Diagnose why text copied from a PDF comes out as symbols or wrong letters: ToUnicode maps, font encodings and a readable-text score for every page, with a copy preview. In your browser.