PDF to Text Converter
Copy all the text out of a PDF into a .txt file.
🔒 Your file is processed inside your browser. It is never uploaded or saved.
What is PDF to Text?
When you only need the words, a plain text file is the simplest format. This tool reads every page of your PDF in reading order, shows the text on screen and lets you download it as a .txt file with a marker between pages.
How to extract text from a PDF
- Add your PDF.
- Press Start. Text items on each page are grouped into lines.
- Check the preview that appears below the button.
- Download the .txt file.
When PDF to Text is useful
Copying content
Reuse a paragraph without retyping.
Searching
Search a long document in a text editor.
Data preparation
Feed text into other tools.
Tips for better results
If the tool reports that no text was found, the PDF is probably scanned. Run OCR PDF instead. Tables become lines of text, so use PDF to Excel for tabular data.
Good to know before you start
The converter reads the positions of words on each page and puts words with similar vertical positions on the same line, which reproduces reading order for most single-column documents. Multi-column layouts may interleave lines from neighbouring columns, and headers or page numbers appear as ordinary lines. The text is shown in a preview box so that you can copy it directly, and the downloaded file separates pages with a marker line. Because it handles Unicode, text in languages such as Urdu, Hindi, Arabic and Chinese is kept as long as it exists as real text in the PDF and not as a picture. If you plan to analyse the text further, a plain .txt file is easy to open in any editor, spreadsheet or script. For documents that are scans, start with OCR PDF, which produces a text file directly from the page pictures.
Why use PDFToolkit
When you extract text from a PDF with PDFToolkit, the work stays on your own device. Your contracts, ID scans and invoices are processed in the browser and are never sent to a server.
- Private: no upload, nothing saved.
- Free: no sign-up, no daily limit and no watermark.
- Fast: no waiting for files to travel over the internet.
- Everywhere: Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iPhone.
Frequently asked questions
Does it work on scanned PDFs?
No. Use OCR PDF for scans.
Are page breaks marked?
Yes, with “--- Page N ---”.
Are images extracted?
No. Only text.
Is my file uploaded?
No.