PDF to Text

Convert PDF documents to plain text online for free. Extract readable text from PDFs for editing, analysis, or processing.

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File is too large. The limit is 100 MB.

Supported: .pdf (Max 100 MB)

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info About this tool
Extract plain text from PDF documents. Whether you need to copy content from a locked PDF, feed document text into another tool, run analysis on report data, or simply get the readable text out of a file without the PDF formatting, this converter delivers a clean .txt file with all extractable text. The conversion reads every page in order and outputs the text as a single plain text file. Note: scanned PDFs that contain only images do not have embedded text and will produce an empty or near-empty output. For scanned documents, OCR software is required.

File size: Text output is dramatically smaller than the source PDF. A 5 MB PDF typically produces a few hundred kilobytes of plain text.

Quality: Extracts embedded digital text only. Scanned PDFs without embedded text produce empty output. Tables and columns may appear as disjointed text.

format_list_numbered How to convert
  • 1
    Upload your PDF document.
  • 2
    The converter reads all embedded text from every page.
  • 3
    Download a .txt file containing all extracted text.
help FAQ

Why is the output empty or garbled?

If your PDF was created from scanned images (rather than digital text), it contains no embedded text data. This converter extracts embedded text only. Scanned documents require OCR software to extract text.

Will formatting be preserved?

Plain text has no formatting. Columns, tables, fonts, and layout are not preserved. The text is extracted in reading order as a linear stream.

Can I extract text from a password-protected PDF?

Password-protected PDFs cannot be processed. Remove the password before uploading.
lightbulb Common use cases
  • check_circle Extracting report content for copy-pasting into another document
  • check_circle Feeding PDF text into analysis tools, scripts, or AI systems
  • check_circle Getting text out of a PDF when copy-paste in a reader is disabled
  • check_circle Converting PDF articles to plain text for offline reading
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