Extract text from a PDF
Every word of a PDF as a plain text file, pulled out on your device.
Done
Open the network tab. It stays empty.
Add files and run the tool to see every request this tab makes.
Your files are processed on this device and never sent to a server. Reload the page to clear everything from memory.
Copying text out of a PDF by hand gives you one line per paragraph, broken hyphens and page headers in the middle of sentences. This page reads the text layer with pdf.js inside your browser, groups the runs back into lines and paragraphs, mends words split across lines, and saves a clean .txt file. A preview appears before you download.
Plain text is the right output when the words are going into another program: a note-taking app, a script, a search index, a language model, a translation tool. If you want an editable document with headings, switch the format to Word.
How it works
- Drop a PDF, or tap to pick one. The page count appears next to the format.
- Leave plain text selected, or switch to Word. Tick page breaks if you want a form feed between pages.
- Convert. The preview shows the start of the text and the .txt file downloads.
In your browser, not on a server
pdf.js, the PDF engine inside Firefox, reads every positioned text run on each page. Stayput groups the runs into lines by baseline, joins lines into paragraphs from their spacing and font size, and writes the result as a .docx (a zip of standard Office XML built with fflate) or a .txt file, all in memory in your tab.
Compared with upload-based tools: Upload-based PDF to Word converters are the ones most likely to ask for your email address before the download, and the PDFs people convert are contracts, statements and CVs. Here the document is read on your device and the Word file never exists anywhere else.
Verify it yourself. Load this page, turn off Wi-Fi or switch to airplane mode, and run the tool. Or open your browser's developer tools (F12, or Cmd-Option-I on a Mac), pick the Network tab, and watch it while you convert. The panel above does the same count for you.
Questions
Does it work on scanned PDFs?
No. A scan is a picture of text with no text layer, so there is nothing to extract without OCR. The tool says so when it finds no text.
Does it keep reading order for two-column pages?
Lines are ordered top to bottom and left to right within a line. Simple two-column layouts usually come out column by column; complex ones can interleave. Check the preview.
Can I extract text from many PDFs at once?
One file at a time for now. Batch extraction is on the roadmap.
Is the file uploaded anywhere?
No. There is no server in this process. The page is a static file and the work is done by code running inside your browser tab. You can load the page, turn off Wi-Fi, and it still works.
More PDF tools
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Combine PDFs into a single document. Drag to reorder. No file limits, no watermark, nothing uploaded.
Split PDF
Pull out the pages you need, or break a document into single pages. Done on your device.
Compress PDF
Shrink PDFs for email or upload limits. Three levels, from lossless cleanup to aggressive. Processed on your device.
Rotate PDF
Fix sideways scans for good. Rotate every page or just the ones you pick, then save.