Reading order
Headers, columns and tables come out in the order you read them, not the order they were written into the file.
PDF to Text
Save the text of PDF files as plain text.
Import your PDFs
PDF
Related tools
How to convert a PDF to text
The video could not load. You can still follow the instructions below.
Drop one or more PDFs, or select them.
Text options
Every script
Arabic and Hebrew read from right to left, Chinese and Japanese stay as they are, all saved as UTF-8.
Page and text
See each page beside its text and copy it before you download anything.
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Some pages
Convert every page or a range like 2-5, 9. Page breaks can be marked with a form feed.
Many files
Each PDF becomes its own text file, and you download them together as a ZIP.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert a PDF to text?
Drop your PDF, check the text next to each page, then select Convert and Download.
Why does a page say No text?
The page is a picture of text, such as a scan, and holds no text a program can read. Such a file is left out.
Is the formatting kept?
No. The result is plain text: words, lines and paragraphs in reading order, without fonts, images or layout.
Are my files uploaded?
No. The files stay in your browser and never leave your device.
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Is it free?
Yes. No account and no usage limits.
Technical details
Processing
The text is read with pdf.js in a background worker in your browser and put in reading order: sections, then columns, tables row by row.
Encoding
Every file is UTF-8 with line feeds. With Page breaks on, each page ends with a form feed, as pdftotext writes it.
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Limits
Scanned pages have no text layer. Text in a font the browser cannot read stops the file with a message instead of leaving words out.