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PDF to text in your browser - nothing is uploaded
PDF to Text Converter
Convert a PDF to text for free and download it as a plain .txt file. Drop your PDF in and the text of every page is extracted in seconds, ready to paste into a document, an email, or any other app.
How to convert a PDF to text
- 01
Choose your PDF
Drop in the PDF you want the text from. Files up to 50MB are supported, and nothing is uploaded.
- 02
The text is extracted
The text of each page is read straight from the PDF, line by line, with a blank line between pages.
- 03
Download the .txt file
The text file downloads instantly and opens in Notepad, TextEdit, Word, Google Docs, or any other editor.
Get the text out of a PDF
Reports, contracts, papers, and invoices often arrive as PDFs, but you need the words somewhere else: in a document you are writing, a translation tool, a spreadsheet, or an AI chat. Converting the PDF to text gives you all of it in one plain file you can search, edit, and paste anywhere.
The tool reads the text that is already stored in the PDF, so there is no retyping and no recognition errors.
What the text file contains
You get the text of every page in order, with the line breaks of the original and a blank line between pages. Plain text has no formatting, so fonts, colors, images, and links are left out.
Tables come out as plain lines of text rather than columns, and multi-column layouts follow the order in which the PDF stores the text, which is usually the reading order. If you need the layout, edit the PDF itself instead.
Private by design
The PDF is converted entirely in your browser. It is never uploaded, stored, or seen by a server, so it is safe for contracts, bank statements, and other confidential documents.
It is free, with no sign up, no account, and no limit on how many files you convert.
Frequently asked questions
Can I convert a scanned PDF to text?
Not with this tool. A scanned PDF stores each page as a picture, so there is no text to extract, and text recognition (OCR) isn't supported. If no text is found, you'll see a message instead of an empty file.
Is the formatting kept?
No. A .txt file is plain text, so bold, fonts, colors, and images are dropped. Line breaks are kept and pages are separated by a blank line, but tables are not rebuilt - they come out as plain lines of text.
Why not just copy and paste the text?
Copy and paste works for a short passage. For a whole document it means selecting page after page, and some viewers make that awkward. Here you get the text of every page in one file in a single step.
Can I edit the text inside the PDF instead?
Yes. If you want to change the wording but keep the PDF's layout, open the file in the free PainlessPDF editor and edit the text directly on the page.
Is my PDF uploaded to a server?
No. The text is extracted in your browser, and the file never leaves your device.
More free PDF tools
Edit PDF text
Change or replace existing text directly in the document.
Add text to PDF
Click anywhere to type and fill in non-interactive forms.
Fill out a PDF form
Type answers onto any form, even scanned or non-fillable ones.
Sign a PDF
Type, draw, or upload your signature and place it anywhere.
Annotate & highlight
Highlight, underline, strikethrough, and add notes.
Check PDF accessibility
Find tag, alt text and heading problems, and see where each one is.
