Last updated: October 2026
How to extract text from a PDF
Short answer: drop your PDF above, click Extract Text, then copy the text or download it as a .txt file — entirely on your device.
- Choose a PDF — it stays in your browser and is never uploaded.
- Pick an extraction mode (reading order, layout-preserving, or raw), which pages to extract, and whether wrapped lines should join into paragraphs.
- Click “Extract Text”.
- Preview the extracted text page by page, search within it, then copy it all (or one page) or download it as a .txt file.
Why extract text from a PDF?
Reuse the words — quote, search, or paste text into a doc without retyping. Keep the structure — line breaks and page separators stay in place, so you can tell where each page ends. Three modes for three jobs — Reading order gives clean flowing text; Layout-preserving keeps spacing and column alignment for tables and forms; Raw shows fragments in the PDF's own order for debugging odd files. Stay private — extraction runs entirely on your device, so sensitive documents never leave it.
How this compares: other extractors upload your PDF to their servers, delete it after a couple of hours, and cap how many tasks you can run per hour. This tool never uploads anything, has no hourly or page limits, needs no account, and adds no watermark — and it tells you honestly, page by page, when a page has no text layer instead of silently returning nothing.
If a page comes back with no text, it is almost certainly a scanned image — see the scanned-PDF question below, and use Edit Scanned PDF to read it with OCR. For pictures of pages instead of text, use PDF to JPG. To change the words in the PDF itself, open the PDF Editor.
Frequently asked questions
Is my PDF uploaded anywhere?
No. The entire conversion runs in your browser with JavaScript — your PDF never leaves your device, which makes this safe for sensitive documents.
Will the extracted text keep the original formatting?
Plain text keeps the words and their line breaks, plus page separators — but not fonts, colors, bold, or exact layout. Tables may come out as lines of text rather than neat columns. For layout-perfect editing, use the PDF Editor instead.
Why is some text missing or jumbled?
PDFs store text as positioned fragments, not flowing paragraphs, so multi-column pages and tables can come out in a different reading order. Missing text usually means that page is a scanned image with no text layer — see the scanned-PDF question below.
My PDF is a scan — can this tool read it?
No. A scanned PDF is a picture of a page with no text layer, so there is nothing to extract. Pages like that are flagged in the preview. For scans, use the Edit Scanned PDF tool, which reads text from images with OCR.
What does the page separator look like?
Each page starts with a line reading “----- Page N -----”, so you can see exactly where one page ends and the next begins. Turn separators off with the checkbox if you want one continuous block of text.
Can I copy the text instead of downloading it?
Yes. Use the Copy text button to copy everything in the preview to your clipboard, then paste it anywhere. The Download .txt button saves the same text as a file.
Is there a file size or page limit?
No hard limit — extraction runs on your device, so very large PDFs just take longer. Your browser's memory is the only constraint.
Does this tool work on password-protected PDFs?
No. Password-protected PDFs can't be opened by this tool — remove the password with the original file first, then extract the text.
What do the three extraction modes do?
Reading order rebuilds lines in top-to-bottom, left-to-right order — best for ordinary documents. Layout-preserving also reproduces the horizontal spacing between fragments, so tables, forms, and multi-column pages stay visually aligned in the plain text. Raw lists the PDF's text fragments in the order the file stores them, which is useful for diagnosing a file that extracts oddly.
Can I extract only some pages, or view one page at a time?
Yes. Enter the pages you want (for example “1-3, 5”) or leave it on All pages. After extraction, use the View control to show a single page, with Previous/Next buttons, and copy or download just that page's text.
How is this different from other PDF to Text tools?
Other extractors upload your PDF to a server, auto-delete it after a couple of hours, and cap the number of tasks you can run per hour. This tool runs 100% in your browser: zero uploads, no hourly or page limits, no account, and no watermark. It also goes further — three extraction modes, per-page view with per-page copy and download, find-in-text, character and word counts, and an honest per-page scanned flag with an OCR route for scanned pages.
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