Extract text from a PDF
Copying text from a PDF viewer often breaks lines and mixes columns. This tool reads the text layer of each page and rebuilds lines in reading order, separated by page.
It works for PDFs that contain real text (created from Word, websites, etc.). Scanned PDFs are pictures of text; for those, the tool tells you no text layer was found.
How to extract text from a PDF
- 1
Choose your PDF.
- 2
Click “Extract text”.
- 3
Copy the text or download it as a .txt file.
Features
Page by page
Clear separators show where each page begins.
Any language
Arabic, Spanish, English and more are extracted as Unicode text.
Private
Your PDF is read locally in your browser.
Example
Research notes
Extract an article’s text to quote it or paste it into a translator.
Frequently asked questions
How do I extract text from a PDF?
Select your PDF and click Extract text. Then copy the result or download it as a .txt file.
Why is no text found?
The PDF probably contains scanned images rather than real text. Text extraction needs a text layer, which scanned documents don’t have unless OCR was applied.
Is formatting kept?
This tool outputs plain text. To keep formatting and tables, use PDF to Word.