PDF to Text
PopularExtract text from PDF files in the browser.
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About PDF to Text
Copying text out of a PDF by hand drags along odd line breaks and page furniture. Here extraction starts the moment you choose a file: the page text is read, grouped into headings and paragraphs from font sizes and spacing, and shown in an editable box where you can fix anything before using it. Multi-page files get a marker between pages, and the page count (plus an image count, when there are images) appears under the file name. A scanned PDF has no text layer, so it needs OCR instead.
Features
- Extraction starts automatically when the file loads
- Headings and emphasis rebuilt in the editable view from font sizes and styles
- Editable result with a formatting toolbar
- Copy as plain text or save as a .txt file
- Falls back to simple page-by-page text if the structured pass fails
Limitations
- Only text that is really in the PDF is extracted. A scan or photo of a page has none, so use the OCR tool for those.
- There is no column or table detection, so multi-column pages and tables can come out in an unexpected order.
- The downloaded .txt is plain text: headings and bold are flattened and images are left out.
- Files up to 50 MB are accepted, and saving the .txt needs a free account, though copying does not.
How it works
- Drop a PDF onto the upload area; extraction starts as soon as it loads.
- Wait for the Extracting text line to finish; the page count appears under the file name, with an image count when images are found.
- Edit the result in the box if anything is off, using the toolbar for headings, lists or emphasis.
- Select Copy text, or Download TXT to save a plain-text file named after the PDF.
Frequently asked questions
- Only if the scan already carries a text layer. A typical scan is a picture of each page, so little or nothing is found. Run it through the OCR tool, which reads the pixels, and use that text instead.
- A PDF stores positioned fragments of text rather than paragraphs. The tool rebuilds lines from vertical position, so columns and tables can be read across or in an odd sequence. Fix the result in the box before copying.
- When a PDF has more than one page, a short marker is placed before each page's text so you can see where one ends. Single-page files get none. Delete the markers in the editor if you want continuous text.
- Copy text and Download TXT give plain text. To keep headings as # marks and bold as Markdown, use PDF to Markdown, which runs the same extraction and then converts the result.
- No. The file is read by pdf.js in your browser tab, and its worker script is served from this site's own domain rather than a third party. The only account step is saving the .txt.