Extract Text from PDF Files — Free Online PDF to Text Converter
Pull editable text from any PDF document instantly with our free PDF to Notepad converter. Whether you need to extract content from reports, ebooks, academic papers, or business documents, this tool retrieves all readable text while preserving the reading order and paragraph structure.
Unlike cloud-based converters that upload your sensitive documents to external servers, this tool processes PDFs entirely within your web browser using Mozilla's PDF.js library. Your files stay on your device—nothing is transmitted, stored, or analyzed remotely.
How PDF Text Extraction Works
PDF files store text in two fundamentally different ways, and understanding this helps set expectations:
Native/Digital PDFs
Created directly from Word, Google Docs, or other applications. Text is stored as actual character data.
Scanned/Image PDFs
Created by scanning paper documents. Text exists only as pixels in an image.
This tool extracts text from native PDFs. Scanned documents (image-based) require OCR software for text extraction.
How to Convert PDF to Text in 3 Steps
Upload Your PDF
Drag and drop or click to select your PDF file from any location.
Extract Text
Click the extract button and watch the progress as each page is processed.
Copy or Download
Copy text to clipboard or download as a .txt file for editing.
PDF Text Extractor Features
Multi-Page Processing
Extract text from PDFs with hundreds of pages. Progress indicator shows real-time status.
Reading Order Preserved
Text is extracted following the logical reading order, maintaining paragraph structure.
Unicode & International Text
Full support for non-Latin scripts including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Hebrew, and more.
Document Statistics
Instantly see page count, word count, and character count after extraction.
No File Size Limits
Process large PDFs locally—your device's memory is the only constraint.
Drag & Drop Interface
Simply drag your PDF onto the upload area—no browsing through folders required.
When to Use a PDF Text Extractor
📚 Research & Academic Work
💼 Business Document Processing
🔍 Content Repurposing
🌐 Translation Preparation
♿ Accessibility Conversion
Tips for Better Text Extraction Results
- Check if your PDF is searchable: Open the PDF and try to select text with your cursor. If you can highlight words, the text is extractable.
- Multi-column layouts: Text from multi-column PDFs may need manual reordering. The extractor reads columns top-to-bottom, left-to-right.
- Headers and footers: Repeated elements like page numbers and headers will appear in the extracted text. Edit these out as needed.
- Protected PDFs: Password-protected or copy-restricted PDFs cannot be extracted. You'll need to unlock them first with appropriate permissions.
Your Documents Stay Private
This tool uses PDF.js, Mozilla's open-source PDF rendering library, to process files entirely in your browser. Here's our privacy guarantee:
- No file uploads to any server
- No data storage or logging
- Works offline after page load
- Safe for confidential documents
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is my extracted text empty or garbled?
The PDF may be scanned (image-based) rather than native. Scanned documents require OCR software for text extraction, or the PDF may use custom font encoding.
Can I extract text from password-protected PDFs?
No. You'll need to unlock the PDF first using the original password or appropriate software before extraction.
Does this preserve formatting like bold or tables?
Plain text extraction captures only characters—no formatting, fonts, or layout. For formatted output, consider converting to Word format instead.
How large of a PDF can I process?
There's no hard limit. Processing happens in your browser, so it depends on your device's available memory. Most computers handle 100+ page PDFs without issues.