PDF to text, plain and ready to paste anywhere.
Get the text of a PDF as a simple .txt file – line by line as in the document, or as flowing paragraphs for pasting into notes, an e-mail or another program. Done in your browser, with no file uploads.
Drop one or more PDFs here, or click to choose
Tables become real cells, numbers become numbers
Guideline: up to 50 MB works well on most devices; for larger files a computer is more reliable than a phone. Check for yourself that your files aren't uploaded
Drop one or more PDFs here, or click to choose
Each file is split the same way
Guideline: up to 50 MB works well on most devices; for larger files a computer is more reliable than a phone. Check for yourself that your files aren't uploaded
e.g. 3, 7 — leave empty to split every page separately
Drop one or more PDFs here, or click to choose
Applied to every page, or only to the pages you enter below
Guideline: up to 50 MB works well on most devices; for larger files a computer is more reliable than a phone. Check for yourself that your files aren't uploaded
Drop one or more PDFs here, or click to choose
A page number on every page, bottom centre unless you choose another position
Guideline: up to 50 MB works well on most devices; for larger files a computer is more reliable than a phone. Check for yourself that your files aren't uploaded
Drop one or more PDFs here, or click to choose
Each file has the same pages removed
Guideline: up to 50 MB works well on most devices; for larger files a computer is more reliable than a phone. Check for yourself that your files aren't uploaded
e.g. 2, 5-7
Drop one or more PDFs here, or click to choose
The same pages are taken from each file
Guideline: up to 50 MB works well on most devices; for larger files a computer is more reliable than a phone. Check for yourself that your files aren't uploaded
e.g. 1, 3-5
Drop one or more PDFs here, or click to choose
The watermark is added to every page
Guideline: up to 50 MB works well on most devices; for larger files a computer is more reliable than a phone. Check for yourself that your files aren't uploaded
e.g. CONFIDENTIAL
A PNG with a transparent background works best. Up to 10 MB.
Drop JPG or PNG images here, or click to choose
All images go into one PDF – change the order below if needed
Guideline: up to 50 MB works well on most devices; for larger files a computer is more reliable than a phone. Check for yourself that your files aren't uploaded
Drop one or more PDFs here, or click to choose
Every page becomes one JPG image
Guideline: up to 50 MB works well on most devices; for larger files a computer is more reliable than a phone. Check for yourself that your files aren't uploaded
e.g. 1, 3-5 — leave empty to convert every page
Drop one or more PDFs here, or click to choose
Every file gets the same password
Guideline: up to 50 MB works well on most devices; for larger files a computer is more reliable than a phone. Check for yourself that your files aren't uploaded
Remember it well: nobody can recover a forgotten password, not even us. It stays in your browser.
Drop one or more PDFs here, or click to choose
The same password is tried on every file
Guideline: up to 50 MB works well on most devices; for larger files a computer is more reliable than a phone. Check for yourself that your files aren't uploaded
Leave empty for a file that opens without a password but blocks printing or copying.
Drop one or more PDFs here, or click to choose
Your signature goes on every file at the same place
Guideline: up to 50 MB works well on most devices; for larger files a computer is more reliable than a phone. Check for yourself that your files aren't uploaded
Drag your signature to the right place
Create your signature above and it appears here.
Tip: click the signature and move it with the arrow keys (hold Shift for bigger steps).
Drop one or more PDFs here, or click to choose
Several pages of your PDF on each sheet, ready to print
Guideline: up to 50 MB works well on most devices; for larger files a computer is more reliable than a phone. Check for yourself that your files aren't uploaded
Drop one or more PDFs here, or click to choose
Cut margins off every page, or trim the white edges
Guideline: up to 50 MB works well on most devices; for larger files a computer is more reliable than a phone. Check for yourself that your files aren't uploaded
Preview: the dashed box is what stays
Drop one or more PDFs here, or click to choose
See what the file says about itself, then remove it
Guideline: up to 50 MB works well on most devices; for larger files a computer is more reliable than a phone. Check for yourself that your files aren't uploaded
Leave a field empty to remove it. Dates and software names are always removed.
Drop one or more PDFs here, or click to choose
The text of your PDF as a plain .txt file
Guideline: up to 50 MB works well on most devices; for larger files a computer is more reliable than a phone. Check for yourself that your files aren't uploaded
Drop one or more PDFs here, or click to choose
Every picture in your PDF as a separate file
Guideline: up to 50 MB works well on most devices; for larger files a computer is more reliable than a phone. Check for yourself that your files aren't uploaded
Drop one or more PDFs here, or click to choose
See every page, then put them in the right order
Guideline: up to 50 MB works well on most devices; for larger files a computer is more reliable than a phone. Check for yourself that your files aren't uploaded
Drop one or more PDFs here, or click to choose
Scanned pages get an invisible, searchable text layer
Guideline: up to 50 MB works well on most devices; for larger files a computer is more reliable than a phone. Check for yourself that your files aren't uploaded
Takes a few seconds per page; a long scan can take minutes.
Drop 2 PDFs here (old and new), or click to choose
Text differences, word by word, page by page
Guideline: up to 50 MB works well on most devices; for larger files a computer is more reliable than a phone. Check for yourself that your files aren't uploaded
Add 2 PDFs: first the old version, then the new one.
removed text added text
Drop a PDF here, or click to choose
Draw black boxes over what must disappear
Guideline: up to 50 MB works well on most devices; for larger files a computer is more reliable than a phone. Check for yourself that your files aren't uploaded
Pages with a black box become an image: text there can no longer be selected or searched. Pages without a box stay as they are.
Draw a box over everything that must disappear
Drag with your mouse or finger to draw a box. To remove a box: click it, or reach it with the Tab key, and press Delete.
Drop one or more PDFs here, or click to choose
Form fields and comments become part of the page
Guideline: up to 50 MB works well on most devices; for larger files a computer is more reliable than a phone. Check for yourself that your files aren't uploaded
Drop a PDF here, or click to choose
Fill in its form fields or add text to a page
Guideline: up to 50 MB works well on most devices; for larger files a computer is more reliable than a phone. Check for yourself that your files aren't uploaded
Form fields
Add text: click on the page where it should go
Tip: select a box with Tab or a click and move it with the arrow keys (hold Shift for bigger steps); Delete removes it.
How to turn a PDF into a text file
Choose your PDF
Drag it into the tool or click to browse. Your file isn't uploaded: your browser reads it itself.
Lines or paragraphs
Keep the line breaks of the PDF (good for lists and code), or let the lines flow into paragraphs (good for copying prose).
Download the text
The .txt file opens in any editor, on any device. One file per PDF; several PDFs come as a zip.
Tips for PDF to text
Headers and page numbers stay in
Running headers, footers and page numbers are part of the text, so they appear on every page of the .txt file. Remove them in your editor if you don't need them.
Form answers are not included
Answers typed into form fields are not part of the page text, so they don't end up in the file. PDF to Word does carry them over as text.
A file that opens everywhere
The file is saved in UTF-8 with Windows line breaks, so it opens correctly in Notepad as well as on a Mac. Pages are separated by one empty line, without page markers.
Honest about the limits
This tool takes the text that is already in the PDF. It does not recognise text in pictures (OCR) and it drops the layout on purpose: a .txt file cannot hold it. You can first make a scan searchable with OCR PDF. Check the result for documents with several columns or complex tables.
Questions about PDF to text
How do I get the text out of a PDF?
Drop the PDF into the tool above, choose lines or paragraphs and click Save as text. You get a .txt file with all the text of the document, page after page.
Does it work on a scanned PDF?
No. A scan is a picture of a page, with no text in it. The tool tells you when a file or a page has no text instead of giving you an empty file. Text recognition (OCR) is not part of this tool. You can first make a scan searchable with OCR PDF.
Is the formatting kept?
No. A .txt file has no bold, fonts, colours or tables – that is the point of plain text. The reading order of columns is the order in which the PDF stores them, which is usually right. For a document with layout, use PDF to Word instead.
What is the difference between lines and paragraphs?
Lines keeps every line break exactly as it is in the PDF, which suits lists, addresses and code. Paragraphs joins the lines of a paragraph into one line and keeps a blank line between paragraphs, which suits text you want to paste and edit.
Which languages and alphabets work?
All of them: the file is saved as UTF-8, so Greek, Cyrillic, Arabic, Chinese and accented letters come out as they are. Hyphenated words at the end of a line stay hyphenated.
Which file do I get?
A plain .txt file in UTF-8. It opens in Notepad, TextEdit, Word, Google Docs or any other text editor, with accents and other alphabets intact.
General questions about privacy, cost and file size are answered on the homepage. Stuck? See the help page.
Important to know
The text is taken automatically. Check the result before you rely on it. Full terms of use.