PDF to TXT Converter
Extract all readable text from a PDF file. Upload a PDF and get the plain text content from every page, ready to copy or download.
Click to upload a PDF file
Your file is processed entirely in your browser
Recommended Settings
Pro Tips
- •Text is extracted page by page and joined with a blank line between pages, preserving the original page order
- •Scanned PDFs (images of text with no embedded text layer) won't extract any text - this tool reads existing text, it doesn't perform OCR
- •Spacing between words is approximated from the PDF's layout, so exact whitespace may differ slightly from the original document
- •The whole file is read and processed locally in your browser - nothing is uploaded anywhere
Most Popular
Most users upload a text-based PDF and copy the extracted content directly into another document
When to Use This Tool
Pull the readable text out of a PDF report, article, or form to reuse in another document without retyping it.
Convert a PDF to plain text so you can search its content with standard text tools like grep or a text editor's find feature.
Extract text from legacy PDF documents to migrate their content into a new system, database, or content management tool.
Convert a PDF to plain text for easier processing by screen readers or text-to-speech tools that don't handle PDF layout well.
How It Works
Read the uploaded PDF file as binary data directly in your browser
Parse the file into a PDF document using the PDF.js library, detecting the total page count
Extract the text content items from each page in order
Join the words from each page into a single block of text, separating pages with a blank line
Display the resulting plain text, ready to copy or download
100% Private
Files never leave your device. All processing happens locally in your browser.
Lightning Fast
Powered by PDF.js for optimal performance on modern browsers.
Open Source
Built with verified, open-source libraries. Fully transparent.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will this work on a scanned PDF?
No. This tool extracts text that's already embedded in the PDF. A scanned document that's just an image of text has no embedded text layer, so nothing will be extracted unless the PDF has already been OCR'd.
Does the extracted text preserve formatting?
No. All formatting - fonts, columns, tables, and precise spacing - is discarded, since the output is plain text. Word order generally follows the PDF's internal content stream.
Can I extract text from a specific page only?
This tool extracts text from every page and joins them together. If you need a single page, you can trim the unwanted sections from the output afterward.
Is my PDF uploaded to a server?
No. The entire file is read and processed locally in your browser using the PDF.js library. Your document never leaves your device.
What happens with password-protected PDFs?
Password-protected or encrypted PDFs can't be opened by this tool. You'll need to remove the password protection first using a PDF editor.