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Extract Text from a PDF

Pull the embedded text out of a PDF and save it as a plain .txt file. This reads the real text layer — it does not do OCR on scans.

Add a PDF to extract its text

or drag and drop a file here

Accepts a single PDF that contains a text layer. Scanned documents without one produce a clear message, not an empty file.

How to extract text from a PDF

  1. Add your PDF.
  2. Click Extract text.
  3. Download the .txt file with the text of all pages.

Supported files and limitations

  • Only the embedded text layer is extracted. Scanned pages are images and produce no text — this tool does not perform OCR.
  • Layout is simplified: columns, tables and footnotes come out as running text in reading order as stored in the file, which may differ from the visual order.
  • Password-protected PDFs must be decrypted first.

Common problems

  • “This PDF has no extractable text” — the document is a scan. You need an OCR tool, which this site intentionally does not include yet.
  • Words are glued together or oddly spaced — some PDFs store text in fragments; extraction joins them as well as the file allows.

What happens to your files?

This tool runs entirely in your browser. Your file is opened in your device's memory, processed there, and the result is saved back to your device. The document is never uploaded to a server. You can confirm this yourself: open your browser's developer tools, switch to the Network tab, and process a file — no request contains your document. Closing the tab discards everything. See how local processing works.

Related tools

  • View PDF Metadata — See the document properties stored inside a PDF.
  • PDF to JPG — Save each PDF page as a JPG image.
  • Split PDF — Split a PDF into separate files by page ranges.