Free web tool

PDF to Text

Extract the text of a PDF, a paper, report or form, to a plain .txt file, as paragraphs or line by line, all pages or a range. The PDF is read on your device, in this browser tab. Nothing is uploaded.

Drop PDF files here Choose files PDF, up to 100 MB each.

Options

Layout Paragraphs Line by line, as in the PDF

Mark page breaks with a form feed Pages Leave empty for every page, or enter pages like 1-3, 8.

Bytes of your files sent anywhere: 0

Files are read in this tab. The only requests the page makes are for its own scripts and the files they need. Your files are never sent anywhere.

How it works

A PDF made from a word processor or LaTeX stores its text as positioned pieces. This page reads them with pdf.js, the open-source PDF reader built into Firefox, served from this site, and puts the pieces back into lines, spaces and paragraphs.

In Paragraphs layout, lines that belong together are joined and a word split by a hyphen at a line end is rejoined. Line by line keeps the PDF's own line breaks, which suits poems, code and tables.

For Markdown with headings, lists and equations instead of plain text, File to Markdown converts PDFs on our server and deletes the file afterwards.

How to convert PDF to Text

Pick the layout. Paragraphs for reading and quoting, Line by line to keep the PDF's breaks.
Choose the pages. Leave Pages empty for the whole PDF, or enter a range.
Add the PDF. Drop the PDF on the box, or click it to choose it.
Download. Download the .txt file from its row.

Limits

Up to 100 MB a PDF.
Scanned pages have no text layer and come out empty; the row names them. Text from a scan needs OCR.
Text runs in the order the PDF stores it, which on some two-column pages mixes the columns.
Rejoining hyphenated words is a guess: a word that really has a hyphen at a line end, such as well-known, can lose it. Choose Line by line to keep every hyphen.

Questions

Are my files uploaded?

No. pdf.js reads the PDF in a background worker in this tab and the page puts the text together. There is no server step. The meter under the drop zone counts the bytes the page sends while it works, so you can check this yourself.

Why is my text empty?

The PDF is probably a scan: a picture of each page with no text in it. Copying text from it in a PDF reader fails too. A scan needs OCR, which this page does not do.

Why are words from two columns mixed together?

The page follows the order the PDF stores its text in. Most two-column papers store one column after the other, but some store lines across both. Line by line layout makes the order easier to check.

What is the difference from File to Markdown?

This page gives plain text and runs in your browser. File to Markdown keeps headings, lists and equations as Markdown, and runs on our server, deleting the file afterwards.

Is it free?

Yes. There is no account, no watermark and no limit beyond the size above.

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