PDF to Text

Extract all the selectable text from a PDF into a UTF-8 .txt file, as flowing paragraphs or with the page layout kept.

Reviewed by Dany, RightSums team · Updated

Runs in your browser. Your files are not uploaded.

pdf-convert-from · PDF tool · UK & US

Pull the words out of a PDF into a plain .txt file you can search, paste into other apps or feed into scripts. Choose Reflow paragraphs to join broken lines into readable paragraphs, with larger headings underlined and lists kept as bullets or numbers, or Keep layout to rebuild each page in monospaced columns using spaces, which suits forms, invoices and tables. In Keep layout mode each page is separated by a form feed character. The file is saved as UTF-8, so accents, symbols and non-Latin scripts come through intact. Convert every page or a range such as 3-7. Scanned PDFs have no text to extract, so run PDF OCR first. The text is extracted in your browser and never uploaded.

Accepted inputs

  • PDF

Outputs

  • TXT

How to use the PDF to Text

  1. Open the PDF you want to extract text from.
  2. Choose Reflow paragraphs for reading or Keep layout for tables and forms.
  3. Enter a page range, or leave it empty to extract every page.
  4. Click Convert and download the .txt file.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Reflow and Keep layout?

Reflow joins lines into paragraphs and removes hard line breaks, which is best for reading or editing. Keep layout places text in columns using spaces so tables, forms and multi-column pages stay lined up when viewed in a monospaced font.

Why is the text file empty or says there is no text?

The PDF is most likely a scan, so its pages are images. The tool checks for selectable text and stops if there is almost none. Run the PDF through PDF OCR to recognise the text, then extract it.

Does it handle accents and other languages?

Yes. The file is written as UTF-8, so accented letters, currency symbols and scripts such as Greek, Cyrillic or Arabic are kept, as long as the PDF stores them as real text.

Are headers and footers removed?

No. Every piece of selectable text on the chosen pages is included, so running headers, footers and page numbers appear in the output. You can remove them with find and replace afterwards.

Is PDF to text extraction done on a server?

No. Text is read with pdf.js inside your browser and saved straight to your device, so confidential documents stay private and nothing is kept on our servers.

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