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PDF to Text

Extract the plain text from a PDF so you can copy and edit it.

Your files never leave your device.

When to use it

PDF to Text pulls the words out of a PDF so you can copy, search, edit or reuse them. Use it to quote a passage from a report, paste a document into an email or chat, translate a document, feed text into another tool or AI assistant, count the words in a PDF, or recover the text of a file you no longer have in Word.

How to extract text from a PDF

  1. Tap Choose PDF file, or drag a PDF onto the box.
  2. Wait while each page is read. A summary shows how many pages and words were found.
  3. Tick or untick Show page breaks to mark where each page starts.
  4. Read or edit the result under Extracted text.
  5. Press Copy text, or Download .txt to save it as a text file.
  6. Press Start over for another PDF.

A worked example

You have a 14-page PDF research report and want to quote two paragraphs from page 6 in your essay. Open it here with Show page breaks on. Scroll to ”--- Page 6 ---”, select the paragraphs, and copy them. Because it’s plain text, the quote pastes cleanly into your document in your own font, ready to cite with the Citation Generator.

What works well, and what doesn’t

  • Works well: documents created from Word, Google Docs, web pages, e-books and most reports, invoices and forms.
  • Partly works: multi-column layouts and tables, where text may come out in a different order.
  • Doesn’t work: scanned paper documents and photos of pages, which contain pictures of text rather than text.

Tips

  • Turn page breaks on for long documents, so you can find your place.
  • Download the .txt for very long documents; it’s easier to search in a text editor.
  • Join broken lines with Remove Extra Spaces (“Join broken lines into paragraphs”) if paragraphs come out split into short lines.
  • Check numbers and symbols in tables before reusing them.

Common mistakes

  • Expecting a scanned PDF to work. If the tool finds no text, it’s a scan.
  • Copying text you don’t have the right to reuse. Quote and cite properly.
  • Losing the layout you needed. If you need tables and formatting, use the original source file instead.
  • Trying to read a locked PDF. Unlock it with its password first.

Private by design

The PDF is read in your browser and never uploaded.

Count the words with the Word Counter, tidy the text with Remove Duplicate Lines, or turn pages into pictures with PDF to Image.

Frequently asked questions

Why does it say no text was found?

The PDF is probably a scan or made of images, so the words are pictures rather than text. Reading text from images needs OCR (optical character recognition), which this tool doesn't do yet.

Will the formatting be kept?

No. You get plain text, which is ideal for copying into other documents, search tools and AI assistants. Bold, fonts, colours, images and exact table layouts are left out.

Why are some words joined or lines broken oddly?

PDFs store text as positioned pieces, not paragraphs. Columns, tables and hyphenated words can come out in an unexpected order. A quick tidy-up in a text editor usually fixes it.

What does "Show page breaks" do?

It adds a line like "--- Page 3 ---" before each page's text, so you can tell where each page starts. Turn it off for one continuous block of text.

Is the PDF uploaded?

No. The text is read in your browser, so confidential documents stay on your device.

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