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PDF to text converter

Copy the text out of a PDF or save it as a TXT file, with line breaks kept or joined into paragraphs. Password-protected PDFs too, and nothing is uploaded.

  • Runs in your browser
  • Nothing is uploaded
  • Free, no sign-up

or drop it here. Up to 100 MB. Nothing is uploaded.

Line breaks
Pages

All, or like 1-3, 5

How it works

Choose a PDF and the text on each page is read in the order the PDF lays it out: a column at a time, paragraphs separated by a blank line. Keep the line breaks as they are in the PDF for tables, lists and addresses, or join the lines into paragraphs to paste the text into a document. Each page can start with a marker like --- Page 2 ---, and you can read only some pages, like 1-3, 5.

Copy text puts it all on your clipboard; Download TXT saves a UTF-8 text file named after the PDF. Pages with no text, which usually means a scan, are listed by number.

Comparing two versions of a contract or report? Paste the text of each into Text compare to see what changed. To keep the pages as they look instead, the PDF to JPG converter turns them into images.

Questions

How do I convert a PDF to text?

Choose a PDF or drop it on the page. Its text appears in a box you can copy from, and Download TXT saves it as a plain text file. Nothing is uploaded.

Why is no text found in my PDF?

The PDF is probably a scan or a photo of pages: it holds pictures of the text, not the text itself. This tool doesn't read text from images (that takes OCR), and it says which pages have no text.

How do I copy text from a PDF without the line breaks?

Choose Join lines into paragraphs. Each paragraph becomes one line and words split across two lines with a hyphen are joined back together, so the text pastes cleanly into a document or email.

Is it safe to extract text from a PDF online?

Here the PDF never leaves your device: your browser reads it, and the page works offline once loaded. A PDF locked with a password asks for it, and the password stays on the page.

Limits

Only text stored in the PDF as text comes out. Scanned pages and photos of documents hold pictures of text, which this tool doesn't read (no OCR); scans that were already made searchable do have text. Some PDFs don't say which letters their fonts draw, and their text comes out as gibberish; the tool warns when it spots that.

The reading order follows the PDF and is right for ordinary documents, but pages with unusual layouts, like text boxes placed freely or labels inside charts, can come out in a different order. Tables become lines of words with spaces between them, not columns. Joining lines into paragraphs removes the hyphen from a word broken across two lines, including the rare compound that happens to break at its own hyphen. Text typed into form fields and comments isn't included.

Opens one PDF of up to 100 MB at a time. A PDF whose author turned off copying its text isn't read, as in Adobe Acrobat. Damaged PDFs that your PDF reader repairs on the fly may not open here.

Privacy

This tool runs entirely in your browser. The files you open and what you type are never sent to a server, and nothing is stored after you close the page. See the privacy page.

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