PDF to Text
Extract all text from a PDF. Copy or download as a .txt file.
Get the raw text out of any PDF as a clean .txt file
When you need the words in a PDF — to feed into ChatGPT, run through a grep search, diff against another document, or paste into an email — you rarely need the fonts, layout, or images. This tool extracts just the text, page by page, and either copies it to your clipboard or downloads it as a plain .txt file.
Good fits for plain-text extraction
- Pasting a PDF into an LLM chat (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini) for summary or analysis
- Extracting text for translation, plagiarism check, or keyword search
- Turning books, notes, and articles into clean text for Kindle or e-ink readers
- Feeding documents into scripts, regex tools, or data pipelines
- Quickly quoting or citing material from a long PDF
What comes out
UTF-8 encoded plain text with pages separated by blank lines. Reading order is preserved for single-column documents. Hyphenated line breaks become space-separated words where possible. Formatting, fonts, colours, and images are dropped — that's the point. For formatting-aware output, try PDF to Word or PDF to HTML.
How to use this tool
- Upload PDF.
- Wait a moment — text appears.
- Click Copy or Download .txt.
Frequently asked questions
Does this work on scanned PDFs?
No — scanned PDFs are images. Run OCR PDF first to add a text layer, then extract the text.
Will tables format correctly?
Tables come out as space-separated text. For real tables that open in a spreadsheet, use PDF to Excel.
What about multi-column layouts?
Two-column articles may interleave rows. Single-column documents extract cleanly; for newspaper-style PDFs you may need to reorder after export.
Does it handle non-English text?
Yes — UTF-8 output handles Hindi, Tamil, Arabic, Chinese, emoji, and any language your PDF stores. Accents and special characters come through unchanged.
Is the PDF uploaded?
No — extraction happens entirely in your browser. Nothing is sent to any server.