PDF to Text converter
Get the words out of a PDF to edit, search, translate or paste elsewhere. The text appears on the page to copy, and as a .txt file to download.
- Runs in your browser
- No sign-up
- Nothing uploaded
Your file
How to use the PDF to Text
- Add a PDF.
- Press "Get text". Every page is read in order.
- Copy the text from the box, or download it as a .txt file.
The text is read with PDF.js, the PDF engine of Firefox, page by page, in the order it is stored in the file. Lines follow the PDF's own line breaks, and pages are separated by a blank line.
Only real text can be read. A scanned PDF is a set of pictures of pages; its words are pixels, not text, and need OCR (optical character recognition), which this tool does not do. The page tells you how many pages had no text.
Columns, tables and headers come out as plain lines, without layout. For a picture of each page, use PDF to JPG.
Formats and limits
- Opens
- Creates
- A plain text file (.txt), and the text to copy
- File size
- Up to 50 MB
- Processing
- On your device, in your browser
Good to know
- PDFs up to 50 MB each. Very large files need a lot of memory; a computer handles them best.
- Password-protected or restricted PDFs are not opened here: unlock them first with Unlock PDF if you know the password.
- Scanned pages (pictures) give no text: OCR is not included.
- The output is plain UTF-8 text without formatting.
Your files are processed on your own device. They are not uploaded to File Perks or anyone else. Read the Privacy Policy.
Frequently asked questions
Are my PDFs uploaded?
No. The PDF is opened, changed and saved by your browser, on your device. Nothing is sent to File Perks or anyone else, so confidential documents stay with you.
Why is the text empty for my PDF?
The PDF is probably a scan: its pages are pictures, so there is no text to read. Text recognition (OCR) is needed for those, and it is not part of this tool.
Does it keep tables and columns?
No. The text comes out as plain lines in the order stored in the PDF; tables and columns lose their layout.
Does it work with Urdu, Arabic or other languages?
Yes, when the PDF contains real text in that language. The text file is saved as UTF-8, which every language uses.