Extract Text from PDF Online — Free
Pull the text out of any PDF instantly. Copy it, or download it as a plain .txt file — all in your browser, nothing uploaded.
Drag & drop your PDF here
or click to browse — files stay on your device
Files never leave your deviceHow to extract text from a PDF
- Drop your PDF into the box above, or click to pick one from your device.
- Click Extract Text and wait while each page is read.
- Copy the text straight from the page, or download it as a .txt file.
About this free PDF to text converter
Need the words out of a PDF without retyping them? This tool reads the selectable text from every page of your document and gives it back as clean, editable plain text — perfect for quoting a report, reusing content in a document, translating a passage, or feeding text into another app. Each page is clearly separated, so long documents stay easy to navigate. One honest limitation worth knowing: this is text extraction, not OCR. If your PDF is a scanned image with no real text layer, there is nothing to extract — that needs optical character recognition, which this tool doesn't do. Formatting isn't preserved either: columns, fonts, and images are left behind, leaving you with the raw words. What you do get is speed and privacy — the whole process runs locally in your browser, so even sensitive documents are safe to use here. No signup, no watermarks, no limits.
Frequently asked questions
Will this work on scanned PDFs?
Only if the PDF contains real, selectable text. This tool extracts text but does not do OCR, so a scanned page that is just a photo of text will return nothing.
Is the original formatting preserved?
No — fonts, colors, columns, and layout are not kept. You get the plain text in reading order, separated page by page, ready to edit or quote.
Is it private?
Yes. Extraction happens entirely in your browser; your PDF is never uploaded to any server.