Runs in your browser. Your files and text never leave your device - nothing is uploaded.
What this PDF to Text tool actually does
This is a free PDF to text converter, also called a PDF text extractor, that reads the text a PDF already has and pulls it out as plain text. Whether you need to convert PDF to text, extract text from a PDF, or convert PDF to TXT for search or version control, it works the same way: every page's existing text is read and joined together, ready to copy or download.
It is a text-layer extractor, not an OCR tool. That distinction matters: it reads characters a PDF already stores, it does not look at pixels to recognize letters in an image.
How to convert PDF to text
- 1
Upload your PDF
Pick a PDF whose words you can already highlight in a viewer. Extraction starts the moment the file is chosen, with no button to press.
- 2
Wait for extraction
The selectable text on every page is read automatically, in your browser.
- 3
Review the extracted text
The full text appears in a text box, pages joined with a blank line.
- 4
Copy or download
Use Copy Text or Download .txt to save the result as a plain text file.
pdf.js reads the characters page by page inside this tab, so the words you see in the text box were pulled from your copy of the PDF without sending it to a server.
How to extract text from a PDF without Adobe or extra software
You do not need Adobe Acrobat, or any desktop software at all, to extract text from a PDF. This free PDF text extractor runs entirely inside your browser tab: upload your file, read the result, copy or download it. There is no signup, no trial period, and no limit on how many PDFs you convert.
Does this do OCR, or work on scanned PDFs?
No, and it is worth being direct about this: this tool does not run OCR (optical character recognition). It reads a PDF's existing text layer, the same characters you could already select and copy in a PDF viewer. A scanned PDF, or a PDF made from a photo, has no such layer; it is only a picture of a page, so extraction returns an empty result.
For a scanned document, the honest fix is OCR, which reads the letters out of the image instead of looking for existing text. The Convert with OCR option on our PDF to Word tool does exactly that, running entirely on your device, and hands back an editable Word document rather than plain text. If you specifically need OCR on an image file, our Image to Text tool covers that as well.
What happens to formatting, tables, and columns?
They are dropped. This is plain text extraction, so fonts, colors, tables, columns, and page layout are all discarded, and only the words remain, joined page by page with a blank line between them. If you need the layout preserved as an editable document, convert with our PDF to Word tool instead. When you want headings and lists kept as structure rather than flattened, PDF to Markdown marks them up for you.
PDF to Text terms explained
Text extraction, OCR and editable text are often treated as one feature, which is why a scan can come back empty here. These definitions show which of them this page handles.
| Term | What it means here |
|---|---|
| Text extraction | Reading a PDF's existing text layer and pulling it out as plain text |
| PDF text / extracted text | The words already stored inside a PDF, as opposed to how they are drawn on the page |
| Plain text / TXT file | Text with no fonts, colors, or layout, saved with a .txt extension |
| Text layer | The hidden character data behind a PDF page that makes text selectable and searchable |
| Editable text | Text you can select, copy, and paste, which this tool produces only when a text layer exists |
| Scanned PDF | A PDF made of page images with no text layer; not readable by this tool |
| OCR (optical character recognition) | Reading letters out of an image to create a text layer; not performed by this tool |
| Document text | All the text pulled from a PDF, page by page, joined into one result |
Converting on Windows, Mac, iPhone, and Android
On Windows and Mac, the Download .txt button is the quickest route into a script, a notes app or a code editor. On an iPhone or Android phone, Copy Text is usually more useful, because it puts the whole document on the clipboard in one tap instead of dragging selection handles across each page of a PDF preview.
Is it free, and is my file safe?
Extracting text on The Tools Kit costs nothing, however many PDFs you run through it.
Because extraction happens in your browser, your PDF never leaves your device. A payslip or medical letter can be turned into plain text without a copy sitting on someone else's server.
Common uses
- Pulling a passage out of a report or article for a citation or quote
- Getting a PDF's contents into a plain .txt file for search, version control, or a script to process
- Copying text from a contract or form to paste into another document
- Extracting a PDF's body copy to paste into the Word Counter or the Grammar Checker
- Spotting what changed between two versions of a contract by pasting both extracts into Text Compare
- Pulling text out of a downloaded PDF report before it goes stale, for archiving as plain text
Extracting text from PDF documents for the USA, Canada, and UK
Pulling the words out of a government or institutional PDF, rather than retyping them, comes up in a few common places:
- USA: extracting text from a US government PDF, an IRS form, or a US university notice that has a real text layer saves retyping it, though a scanned US form will need OCR instead.
- Canada: a Canadian government document or Canadian immigration form with selectable text extracts the same way, provided it was not saved as a scan.
- UK: a UK government PDF or an HMRC notice with an existing text layer extracts cleanly; a UK form that was scanned or faxed in will need OCR first.
Frequently asked questions
Upload your PDF. The selectable text on every page is extracted automatically and shown in a text box, which you can copy or download as a .txt file.
Yes. It is a free PDF to text converter with no signup, no watermark, and no daily limit, so you can extract text from PDF files online as often as you need.
Yes. The extracted text can be downloaded straight from the browser as a .txt file, named after your original PDF, with no server upload required.
No. This tool reads the text layer a PDF already has; a scanned PDF is just a picture of a page and has no such layer, so extraction returns nothing. For a scanned document, use the Convert with OCR option on our PDF to Word tool, which runs optical character recognition to read the letters out of the image.
OCR reads letters out of a scanned image to build a text layer where none existed. This tool does not perform OCR; it only reads a text layer that already exists. If your PDF is a scan, use the OCR option on our PDF to Word tool instead.
The PDF most likely has no selectable text, which happens with scanned documents saved as images. Those need OCR rather than direct text extraction.
Yes. Every page is read and joined together automatically, with a blank line between pages, so you get the full document's text in a single pass rather than page by page.
Yes. Uploading it here extracts the text directly, so you can copy text from a PDF without opening a separate PDF viewer or highlighting it manually.
Yes. There is nothing to install and no account to create. Everything runs online in your browser, so you can convert PDF to text without Adobe Acrobat, a desktop PDF editor, or any other software.
No. Extraction returns plain text pulled from each page, so layout, tables, columns, fonts, and styling are all dropped, only the words remain.
Not while it is locked. Remove the password first by opening the PDF with it and saving an unprotected copy, then extract text from that copy.
No. pdfjs-dist reads the PDF's text layer entirely inside your browser, the same engine that powers Firefox's built-in PDF viewer, so your file never leaves your device.
Yes. On iPhone or Android, selecting text inside a PDF preview is fiddly, so it is often easier to load the file here and tap Copy Text to grab the whole document at once. On Windows, Mac or Linux the same page also offers a .txt download.
Need OCR for a scanned document? Use our PDF to Word tool's Convert with OCR option, or our Image to Text tool for a single scanned image. To take text from only a few pages of a long report, cut those pages out with Split PDF first. Other document tools are on the PDF tools hub.
Reviewed by Raja Jahangir · Last reviewed: October 7, 2026
How do you extract text from a PDF?
To extract text from a PDF, upload the file and the selectable text from every page appears in a text box within seconds, with pages separated by a blank line. Copy it or download it as a .txt file. Extraction runs in the browser using the PDF’s own text layer, so scanned image-only PDFs return nothing and need OCR instead.
Why does a PDF have no text to extract?
A PDF built from a scanner or a photo contains only page images, with no text layer underneath, so text extraction finds nothing. The fix is optical character recognition (OCR), which reads the letters from the image and adds a searchable layer. Password-protected PDFs also need the password removed before extraction can read them.