PDF to Text

Pull the text out of a PDF so you can edit, search or paste it elsewhere. The document is read on your own device and never uploaded.

  • 100% private
  • No sign-up
  • No watermark
  • Unlimited files
Drop a PDF hereor tap to browse · text is extracted, not scanned · nothing is uploaded

    Text is read from the PDF's own text layer, so it comes out exactly as stored. Scanned documents contain images rather than text and will produce nothing — those need OCR, which this tool does not do.

    Why copying from a PDF goes wrong

    Selecting text in a PDF reader and copying it often produces a mess — words jammed together, line breaks in odd places, columns interleaved. That is because a PDF does not store sentences. It stores fragments of text with coordinates saying where each one sits on the page, and the reader guesses at the reading order when you drag across them.

    This tool reads those fragments directly and reconstructs lines by tracking their vertical position, which gives a cleaner result than dragging a cursor across a page.

    Scanned documents will not work

    There are two kinds of PDF that look identical on screen. One contains real text; the other contains a photograph of text, produced by a scanner or a phone camera. Only the first kind has anything to extract.

    If your PDF is scanned, this tool will report that it found no text rather than returning an empty box and leaving you guessing. Getting text out of a scan requires OCR — character recognition — which is a different and much heavier process.

    A quick way to tell which you have

    Open the PDF in any reader and try to select a single word with your cursor. If it highlights, there is a text layer and this tool will work. If your cursor just draws a box over the page, it is a scan.

    Frequently asked questions

    Are my files uploaded to a server?

    No. The conversion runs inside your browser using your device's own processor. Your files are never transmitted anywhere, which is why the tool works even if you disconnect from the internet after the page loads.

    Why did I get no text at all?

    The PDF is almost certainly a scan — images of text rather than text itself. Try selecting a word in a PDF reader: if nothing highlights, there is no text layer to extract.

    Will the formatting be preserved?

    No. You get plain text with line breaks. Fonts, sizes, columns and tables are layout information that plain text cannot carry.

    Does it work on password-protected PDFs?

    Not directly. Remove the password in your PDF reader first, then extract from the unlocked copy.

    Is there a file limit or a paywall?

    There is no account, no watermark, and no upload cap. Because your device does the work, the only practical limit is your available memory. The site is funded by ads, not subscriptions.

    Further reading

    Related tools