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Get the text out of a PDF

Extract every word as plain text, page by page, to copy, search or paste into another app.

Tool · runs in this tab · free
Drop a PDF anywhere on this page

Or choose one. It is read in this tab, processed in a Web Worker, and never uploaded.

Read in this tab. Never uploaded.

How this runs

Nothing loads until you add a file. Then the engine starts in a Web Worker in this tab.

This jobwaiting
Requests since your file0
Other origins contacted0
Enginepdf.js in this tab
Reported by this page. Check it yourself: switch off your network and run the tool again.

When there is no text to extract

Text is read from the PDF’s own text layer with pdf.js. If a page is a scan or a photo, it has no text layer, only an image of words, and this tool says “no text on this page”. OCR can read the image and add a text layer.

Line breaks follow the page layout; columns and tables come out in reading order as the PDF stores it, which is usually but not always the order you read it in.

Steps

  1. Add the PDF.
  2. Read the text by page, or all at once.
  3. Copy it, or download a .txt file.

Limits, stated plainly

  • Layout (columns, tables) is not preserved, only the text in stored order.
Already have Preview or Edge? Selecting all text in any PDF viewer (Ctrl/⌘ + A) and copying works for short files.

Engine: pdf.js in this tab. Your file is not uploaded; check it yourself.