PDF to Text Converter – Extract & Copy Text from PDF Free
Extract the text of a PDF with sensible line and paragraph breaks. Copy it, or download a .txt file.
How to extract text from a PDF
Choose the PDF
Select or drop your file.
Extract
Press Extract text.
Copy or download
Copy the text or save it as .txt.
Everyday uses
- Quoting – copy paragraphs without broken lines.
- AI tools and translation – paste clean text into other apps.
- Search and notes – keep a text copy of documents.
Good to know
“Reading order” gives clean paragraphs: columns are read one after another and tables become rows with tab-separated cells. “Page layout” keeps lines and columns where they are, which suits statements and forms. Headers, footers and page numbers that repeat on every page can be left out.
For scanned PDFs the text is in images; use OCR PDF to recognise it.
Private by design. PDF to Text works inside your browser. Your file is processed on your device and is not uploaded to our server.
Limits to know before you start
- Scanned PDFs have no text to extract. Run OCR PDF first.
- Fonts, bold and colours are not kept; it is plain text. Tables become tab-separated rows.
- Some older PDFs with unusual fonts produce garbled characters, especially in Indian scripts. OCR gives better results for those.
If something goes wrong
The result is empty or has pictures instead of text. The PDF is a scan (a photo of pages) and has no text layer. Run OCR PDF first, or turn on the OCR option where the tool offers it.
The tool asks for a password. The PDF is protected. Type the password you normally use to open it; it is used only in your browser. The new file is not locked.
Characters are garbled. Run OCR PDF and extract the text from the OCR result.
PDF to Text – questions
Why is the text empty?
The PDF is probably a scan. Use OCR PDF to recognise the text first.
Are Hindi and Gujarati supported?
Yes, if the PDF contains real text (not a scan). Some older PDFs with legacy fonts may show garbled characters.
This page describes PDF to Text as it works today. If you notice a difference, tell us and we will correct it. See our editorial standards.