How to use the PDF to Text
- Choose a PDF.
- Wait while each page is read.
- Copy the text or download it as a .txt file.
What does this tool do?
Text is extracted from the PDF's text layer and rebuilt into lines based on where each piece sits on the page. It works for PDFs created from Word, Google Docs, web pages and most software.
Scanned PDFs are pictures of text with no text layer. Those need OCR, which is on our roadmap.
Why use it?
- Reuse text from reports and papers.
- Search or count words in a PDF.
- Paste content into another document.
Use cases
- Copy text out of a PDF that's awkward to select in your viewer.
- Search a long document or count its words — paste the text into the Word Counter.
- Reuse the text of a report or article in an email or a new document.
Tip
Wrapped lines from PDFs can be joined into flowing paragraphs with the Remove Line Breaks tool. For a quick Markdown version, paste the text into any Markdown editor and add headings.
Common mistakes
- Using it on a scanned PDF. Scans are pictures with no text layer, so there's nothing to extract.
- Expecting tables and columns to keep their layout. Text is rebuilt line by line, so multi-column pages and tables may need tidying.
Accuracy and limits
- Multi-column layouts and tables may come out in reading order that differs from the visual layout.
Privacy
Your files are processed entirely in your browser using built-in web technologies. They are not uploaded to our servers, and closing the page clears them from memory. There's no account to create and nothing to install.
Frequently asked questions
Are my PDFs uploaded?
No. The PDF is processed inside your browser with open-source PDF libraries. It never leaves your device, which makes this safe for contracts, statements and IDs.
Can I use a password-protected PDF?
Not yet. Open it in your PDF reader, remove the password (or print it to a new PDF), then use the tool.
Can I tell where each page starts?
Yes. Turn on “Mark where each page starts” and a marker is added before each page's text, which helps when you need to quote page numbers.
Can it convert PDF to Markdown?
It extracts plain text with line breaks preserved, which is a good starting point for Markdown. Formatting like bold and tables isn't recovered.
Last reviewed by the M2Toolkit team.