Extract Text from PDF Online Free

Pull the full text layer out of any PDF, including documents that disable copying in the viewer. Nothing is uploaded, so the file stays on your device while you grab its text.

PDF to Text

Extract the text content from any PDF directly in your browser. The file never leaves your device, no upload, no server.

Upload

Drop a PDF here or browse

Page range (optional)

Leave blank for all pages. Ranges like 2- mean “to the end”.

Insert --- Page N --- separators between pages.Preserve layout (approximate indentation for tables and columns).

Extracted text

Quick Start

1Drop your PDF onto the upload area
2Toggle page-break separators on or off
3Click Extract text to walk every page
4Copy the text or download it as a .txt file

What This Tool Does

The PDF is opened in your browser and its text layer is read page by page. A page range box takes the same syntax you would type into a print dialog, so 1-3, 5, 8- pulls the first three pages, the fifth, and everything from the eighth onward.

Two options change the shape of the output. Page separators, on by default, insert a marker between pages so you can tell where one ended. Preserve layout adds approximate leading indentation, which helps when the original had columns or a table and gets in the way when it was ordinary prose.

Progress is reported page by page and each page is released as it finishes, so a long document works through without the tab running out of memory. The result copies to the clipboard or downloads as a .txt named after the original file.

Limits Worth Knowing

There is no optical character recognition. This reads text that is already in the file, and a scan is a picture of text with no text layer to read.
If nothing comes out, the tool says so explicitly and tells you the document appears to be scanned. If only some pages are empty, it reports how many.
Password-protected files are rejected rather than prompting for the password. Remove it first.
Layout in a PDF is drawn rather than structured, so a complex table will not come out as a tidy table however you set the options.
The file is read on your own device and is never uploaded.

Common Questions

Can it read a scanned document?

No. It extracts an existing text layer. A scan contains an image of text, which needs optical character recognition, and that is not done here.

Why can I copy the text here when the PDF blocks copying?

That restriction is a flag which PDF readers choose to honor. The text layer itself is still in the file, and reading it is what this does.

Can I get just a few pages?

Yes. Enter a range such as 2-6, or 1, 4, 9-, and only those pages are read.

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Looking for FAQs and advanced options? Visit the full PDF to Text page →

What This Tool Does

Limits Worth Knowing

There is no optical character recognition. This reads text that is already in the file, and a scan is a picture of text with no text layer to read.

If nothing comes out, the tool says so explicitly and tells you the document appears to be scanned. If only some pages are empty, it reports how many.

Password-protected files are rejected rather than prompting for the password. Remove it first.

Layout in a PDF is drawn rather than structured, so a complex table will not come out as a tidy table however you set the options.

The file is read on your own device and is never uploaded.