Extract the text from a PDF
Pull the words out of a PDF as a plain text file you can search, paste or feed to something else. No formatting, no images, just the text in reading order.
1 · Choose your files
Drag & drop PDFs here, or click to browse
Up to 5 files, max 50 MB each
The extractor reads the PDF's text layer. Scanned PDFs without one (photos of pages) yield little or no text; this tool does not perform OCR.
All processing runs on your own device using open-source PDF libraries; nothing is uploaded.
3 · Collect your files
Results appear here. Download them one by one or grab everything as a ZIP.
Extract the text from a PDF, step by step
- Drop your files into the box above, or click it to pick them.
- The settings for this are already chosen. Change them if you want something different.
- Click the button. Everything happens in your browser, so nothing is uploaded.
- Download the result, or take several files as a ZIP.
Frequently asked questions
Does this work on a scanned document?
Only if the scan already carries a text layer from whatever produced it. A plain photograph of a page holds no text to extract, and this tool does not read letters out of pixels. If the result comes back empty, that is what happened.
Does anything about the file change?
Only what you asked for. The text stays text and stays selectable, the pages keep their size, and nothing is flattened into an image. The one exception is compression, which is meant to change the file and says so.
Is anything uploaded?
No. The PDF engine runs inside your browser, so the files are read on your own device and never leave it. There is no account, no queue and no upload.
Is it really free?
Yes. No sign-up, no trial, no watermark and no cap on how many files you put through it. The site is paid for by ads.
Other things you can do to a PDF
Other files to convert
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