Extract text from a PDF
Pull all the text out of a PDF into a plain .txt file you can edit, search, paste into a document, or feed into other tools. It's handy for quoting reports, reusing content or reading on devices that struggle with PDFs.
Text is grouped by page so you can always find where it came from.
How to use it
- Add your PDF. Choose the file you want text from.
- Click Process. Text is read from every page.
- Download the .txt file. Open it in Notepad, Word, Google Docs or any editor.
What to expect
- Works on digital PDFs. Files created from Word, websites or other software contain real text and extract cleanly.
- Scanned PDFs have no text. A scan is a picture of a page. It needs OCR software to recognise the letters, which this tool doesn't do.
- Layout is simplified. Columns, tables and headers become plain lines of text.
- Private by design. Your file is processed inside your own browser. It is never uploaded to a server, so nobody else can see it.
Frequently asked questions
Why did I get a “no text found” message?
Your PDF is most likely a scan or a photo. It looks like text to you but is stored as an image.
Does it keep fonts and formatting?
No. A .txt file holds plain text only. Formatting such as bold, colours and tables isn't kept.
Does it support other languages?
Yes. Text in any language the PDF contains, including Sinhala, Tamil and Arabic, is extracted as Unicode text.