PDF to Text PDF
Pull the text layer out of a PDF as a plain text file.
PDF to Text is a free online tool that pull the text layer out of a PDF as a plain text file. It runs entirely in your web browser using pdf.js, so files are processed on your own device and never uploaded to a server. There is no sign-up, no file size limit imposed by the site, no watermark and no paid tier.
- Price
- Free — no account, no quota, no watermark
- Category
- Where it runs
- In your browser, on your device
- Files uploaded
- None
- Technology
- pdf.js
- Settings
- 2
- Works offline
- Yes, after the first visit
About PDF to Text
This reads the text layer that is already inside the PDF. If the file is a scan — pictures of pages with no text layer — there is nothing to extract, and you would need OCR instead.
How to use it
- Choose a file, or drag it onto the drop zone.
- Set pages and keep page breaks.
- Press "Extract text", then download what comes back.
The 2 settings
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Pages | Free text. | all |
| Keep page breaks | On or off. On by default. | On |
Under the hood
| Runs on | pdf.js — renders and reads existing PDF pages |
| Controls | Pages, Keep page breaks |
Questions
Why did it say there is no text to extract?
Because the PDF is a scan — pictures of pages with no text layer underneath. Extraction can only read text that is already encoded in the file. Scanned documents need OCR, which recognizes characters in the image instead.
Why is the spacing and line breaking odd?
PDFs store text as positioned fragments, not sentences. This tool reconstructs lines from vertical positions, which handles ordinary documents well but struggles with multi-column layouts and tables.
Can I get the text of just a few pages?
Yes — put a range like 3-7 in the pages field. Leave it as "all" for the whole document.