Pull the plain text out of a PDF and copy it
Processed in your browser. Nothing is uploaded. Updated on 24 Oct 2026.Extracting text from a PDF gives plain words you can paste anywhere, with an option to keep page breaks. A scanned page holds pictures rather than text, so nothing can be extracted from it and the tool says so plainly. Up to 5 files of 500 pages.
Press Select PDF files and choose the PDF; the text is read on your device.
Switch Keep page breaks and Add page numbers on or off under Text options.
Read the result in the Extracted text pane.
Press Copy text, or Download .txt to save it as a file.
PDF to Text pulls the words out of a PDF and puts them in a panel you can read, copy or save as a .txt file. Drop a file in and the text of every page appears, with a running count of words and characters underneath.
It is the fastest way out of the small annoyances a PDF creates: selecting text in a reader that keeps grabbing the wrong column, quoting three paragraphs of a contract in an email, moving the body of a report into a document so you can edit it, or feeding the contents of a long statement into a spreadsheet. Two switches control the shape of the result. Keep page breaks leaves a blank line where each page ended; switch it off and a sentence broken across two pages is put back together. Add page numbers writes a marker above each page so you can find your place in a long extract.
PDFs store text as positioned fragments rather than as sentences, which is why copying from a reader so often produces broken spacing. The tool repairs that: runs of spaces collapse, lines that are clearly one wrapped sentence are joined, words split by a hyphen at the end of a line are made whole, and paragraph breaks are kept.
Some PDFs contain no text at all. A scan or a photograph of a document is a picture of words, not words, so there is nothing to extract; the tool says so plainly instead of handing you an empty box, and names the two tools that do read a scan: PDF to Image, then Image to Text. Everything runs in your browser and nothing is uploaded, so contracts, medical letters and payslips never leave your device. Up to five PDFs, 50 MB and 500 pages each, and a protected file can be read once you enter its password.
Drop the PDF on the page. The text of every page is read on your device and appears in the panel on the right within a second or two for a normal document. From there, Copy puts all of it on your clipboard and Download saves it as a .txt file named after the PDF.
No. The text is read in your browser by the same engine that displays PDFs on screen. Nothing is sent to a server and nothing is stored, so a contract, a payslip or a medical letter never leaves your computer or phone.
Because a scanned page is a photograph of a document, not a document. The file holds an image of the words, so there is nothing to extract. The tool says so instead of handing back an empty box, and points you at the two steps that do work here: PDF to Image, then Image to Text, which recognises the words.
PDFs store text as fragments placed at coordinates, not as sentences, so a reader often returns broken spacing and lines that stop mid-thought. This tool repairs the common damage: it collapses runs of spaces, rejoins lines that are one wrapped sentence, repairs words split by a hyphen, and keeps paragraph breaks.
Yes. Keep page breaks leaves a blank line where each page ended, which is useful when you need to know what was on which page. Add page numbers writes a marker like --- Page 3 --- above each page. Switch both off and the pages run together as continuous text.
Up to five PDFs at a time, 50 MB and 500 pages each. A password-protected PDF can be read after you type its password into the file row; the password stays on your device. Layout is not preserved: you get plain text, so tables come out as lines rather than as a grid.
PDF se text nikale: drop the file and the words of every page appear in the panel on the right, ready to copy or save as a .txt. Runs of spaces are collapsed and hyphenated line breaks rejoined. A scanned PDF gives nothing, because it holds a picture of words. Five PDFs at a time, 50 MB each.
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Also works as: Extract Text from PDF.
Same job, other tools: Extract PDF Pages – Pick the pages you need and save them as a new PDF · HEIC to PDF – Convert iPhone HEIC photos straight into a PDF · JPG to PDF – Convert JPG photos into a single PDF, in the order you choose · Compress PDF to 500 KB – Fit a multi-page scan under 500 KB with its text still readable · Compress PDF to 50 KB – Get a one-page scan under 50 KB for strict document uploads · Resume Word to PDF – Send your resume as a PDF so the formatting holds.
In the collections PDF Converter · PDF Tools · OCR Tools.