Extract Text
Extract text from a PDF. Copy or save as a .txt file.
Drop a PDF to extract text or click to select
How to Extract Text from a PDF
Select File
Click the 'Choose File' button or drag and drop your PDF into the designated area.
Extract
Click the 'Extract Text' button. The tool will scan your document and pull out all readable text.
Review
The extracted text will appear in a text box. You can review it, see the word and character count, and switch between pages.
Copy or Save
Click 'Copy' to copy the text to your clipboard, or click 'Save .txt' to download the text as a file.
About Extracting Text from PDFs
This tool allows you to pull all the text from a PDF document, making it editable and easy to reuse. It saves you from having to manually re-type information from a PDF. Our tool works with both native and some scanned PDFs.
Native PDFs
For PDFs that were created from a text document, the text is already stored inside the file. This tool reads that data directly, providing a fast and 100% accurate copy of the text.
Scanned PDFs (OCR)
For PDFs that are images of text (like a scan or photo), our tool uses Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology to 'read' the text in the image. The accuracy depends on the quality of the scan, but it can be a powerful way to digitize printed documents.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is no text being extracted from my PDF?
This usually happens if your PDF is purely an image file without any embedded text, and the OCR process cannot identify any characters. This can be due to very low resolution, handwritten text, or highly stylized fonts.
Will the formatting (bold, italics, etc.) be preserved?
No, this tool extracts only the plain text content. All formatting, such as colors, fonts, and layout, will be lost. The output is a simple, unformatted block of text.
Can I extract text from specific pages only?
Yes, once the text has been extracted, you can use the 'By page' navigation tabs above the text box to view and copy the text from individual pages.