How do I extract text from a PDF file online for free?

Upload your PDF above. The tool reads the PDF's internal text layer using the pdf-lib library and writes all extracted text to a plain .txt file you can download immediately. No server, no login, no cost.

Does PDF to text extraction work with scanned PDFs and images?

No. This tool extracts the embedded text layer from the PDF. Scanned documents saved as PDF contain images of text, not actual text characters, so there is no text layer to extract. To extract text from scanned PDFs you would need an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) tool.

Is the text output formatted with paragraph breaks and line spacing?

The output preserves line breaks from the PDF's internal structure. However, because PDF layout is based on absolute coordinates rather than flowing text, some line breaks may appear mid-sentence and paragraph detection is approximate.

Can I extract text from a password-protected or encrypted PDF?

Password-protected PDFs that require a password to open cannot be processed by this tool. If you own the PDF and know the password, remove the password protection first using your PDF reader (typically under File → Print → Save as PDF), then use this tool.

Is the PDF to text extractor free and private?

Yes. Your PDF never leaves your device — all extraction runs locally in your browser. Free, no account required.

PDF → TXT

PDF to Text

Extract all text from a PDF file and save it as a plain .txt file. Free, client-side, no upload.

Your files are processed locally and never uploaded to our servers.

Drop a PDF here

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How it works

1
Upload your file
Drop your file or click to browse. No size limit.
2
Convert instantly
Processed in your browser — nothing is uploaded to any server.
3
Download the result
Your converted file is ready in seconds.

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