Extract the text from a PDF into a .txt file
Get every word of a PDF as plain text, page by page. Choose whether to keep the horizontal spacing and mark page breaks. Your file is read in the browser, not uploaded.
- Files never leave your browser.
- No account needed
- No watermark added
- Works on any device
How it works
Step 1: Choose or drop a PDF that contains text.
Step 2: Decide whether to keep the layout and whether to add page separators.
Step 3: Select Extract text.
Step 4: Download the .txt file, or open it and copy what you need.
What text extraction gives you
Most PDFs made from Word, a website or a report carry a text layer: the actual characters, placed on each page. This tool reads that layer with PDF.js and writes it out in reading order, one page after another, into a UTF-8 .txt file you can open in any editor.
Two options shape the output. Keeping the layout preserves horizontal spacing, so columns and aligned figures stay lined up in a monospaced font. Adding page separators inserts a clear marker between pages, so you know where each one begins. Without them you get flowing text that is easier to paste elsewhere.
Why use this tool
The smallest, most portable output
Plain text opens anywhere, weighs almost nothing and works with search tools, scripts and note apps.
Layout when you need it
Keep the spacing for tabular data, or drop it for clean paragraphs to paste into an email.
Page markers on demand
Separators let you cite or find a passage by page number after the text has left the PDF.
Private and instant
The PDF is processed in your browser and not uploaded, with no account or watermark.
Common uses
Searching a pile of PDFs
Convert manuals or papers to text and search them with your computer's search or a command-line tool.
Feeding text into another tool
Paste a report into a translation tool, a summarizer, a spell-checker or a text-analysis script without PDF line breaks.
Counting words
Check the word count of a submitted thesis or article by extracting it and opening the text in your editor.
Quoting from a scanned-then-recognized file
After running OCR PDF, extract the recognized text to proofread it in a text editor.
Archiving the words of a document
Keep a lightweight text copy of legal or academic material next to the original, which you can search years from now.
Keep the layout, or not?
The right choice depends on what you will do with the text. When layout is off, lines in a paragraph are joined so the text flows and pastes cleanly. When it is on, the spacing between words is preserved, which keeps the shape of the page.
- Layout off: articles, letters, contracts and anything you will edit, translate or feed to another program.
- Layout on: price lists, schedules, statements and forms where alignment carries meaning. View the file in a monospaced font so the columns line up.
- Page separators on: long documents where you want to refer back to a page number.
Supported formats
- Input
- PDF files (.pdf) with a text layer, not password-protected.
- Output
- One plain-text file (.txt).
Scanned PDFs have no text layer: use OCR PDF first.
Good to know
- Only the text layer is read. Images, charts and any text drawn as a picture are not included.
- Scanned or photographed PDFs return little or nothing until you run OCR PDF.
- Reading order follows position on the page, so multi-column layouts, sidebars and footnotes can interleave in the wrong order.
- Tables become lines of text; use PDF to Excel when you need rows and columns.
Your files never leave your browser
This tool runs entirely on your device using your browser. Your files are not uploaded to our servers and are not stored anywhere. Closing the tab discards everything.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the text file empty or full of gaps?
The PDF is probably scanned, so its pages are pictures with no text layer. Run OCR PDF to recognize the text, then extract it again.
Is the PDF uploaded to a server?
No. The text is read in your browser and the .txt file is created there, so nothing is uploaded.
What does the keep-layout option do?
It preserves horizontal spacing so columns and aligned numbers stay lined up. Without it, the text flows as ordinary paragraphs, which is better for pasting into other programs.
Will images and tables be included?
Images are not, because they are not text. Tables are output as lines of text, without borders. For a spreadsheet, use PDF to Excel.
How is this different from PDF to Word?
PDF to Word builds a formatted document with headings and paragraphs, while this tool gives you only raw characters in a .txt file. Choose text when you want the words with no formatting at all.