How to extract plain text from a PDF
Extracting text pulls the raw words out of a PDF into a simple .txt file, with no formatting, fonts or images. This is exactly what you want when the content matters more than the appearance: feeding text into another program, analysing a document, quoting passages, or moving wording into a system that only accepts plain text.
The tool reads the text already inside your PDF and saves it as a lightweight file you can open anywhere.
Plain text is also the format of automation. Scripts, command-line tools, translation memories and AI assistants all consume .txt effortlessly, so extraction is usually the first step in any pipeline that treats documents as data rather than as pages to look at.
Step by step
- Open the PDF to Text tool and upload your document.
- Press Process to extract the words.
- Wait while the text is collected from every page.
- Download the resulting plain-text file.
- Open it in any text editor to use the content.
Limits and formats at a glance
| Input | Text-based PDFs up to 20 MB free (1 GB with PRO) |
|---|---|
| Output | A single UTF-8 .txt file with the text of every page |
| Formatting | Deliberately removed — words only, no fonts, images or layout |
| Reading order | Page by page in natural order; complex columns may interleave |
| Scanned PDFs | Run OCR first so there are words to extract |
| Cost | Free, no account required |
Why use this tool
Plain text is the most portable and future-proof format there is. It opens on every device, takes almost no space, and can be searched, edited or processed by any program, which makes it ideal for archiving wording or piping content into other tools.
Stripping away the layout also removes distractions, leaving just the words — helpful when you want to repurpose copy or run an analysis on the content itself.
It is a favourite first step for anyone working with data: pulling addresses out of a batch of invoices, feeding a report into a word-counter or summariser, copying a long quotation without dragging along its formatting, or importing content into a database or translation tool that only accepts raw text. Because the output is just characters, nothing about the source styling can interfere with what you do next.
Choosing the right export saves cleanup later: use this tool when you want raw words for processing; use PDF to Word when structure such as headings and tables must survive; and use PDF to Excel when the content is numeric and belongs in cells. For scanned material the sequence is always the same — OCR first, then extract — because a scan without a text layer has nothing to give.
Is it safe? Your privacy
Your PDF is processed only to extract its text and is removed from our servers automatically soon afterwards. Neither the document nor the extracted text is stored or shared.
Troubleshooting: common problems and fixes
- The output file is empty. — The PDF has no text layer — it is a scan. Run OCR PDF first, then extract from the searchable copy.
- Words are glued together or oddly spaced. — Some PDFs position text in fragments and the spacing must be inferred. A pass with a spell-checker, or Find & Replace on double spaces, cleans most of it up quickly.
- Headers and page numbers pollute the text. — Everything printed on the page is extracted, running headers included. Strip repeated lines with your editor’s search-and-replace — they are identical on every page, so one rule removes them all.
- Accented characters look wrong in my editor. — The file is UTF-8. If your editor guessed another encoding, re-open it explicitly as UTF-8 — the data itself is correct.
Frequently asked questions
Can I extract text from a scanned PDF?
Only if it contains real text. For image-only scans, run OCR first to recognise the words.
Will the layout be preserved?
No. Text extraction deliberately removes formatting and returns the words only.
In what order is the text returned?
Text is read page by page in the document’s natural reading order. Very complex multi-column or table layouts can occasionally interleave, so review the output if the original had an unusual structure.
What encoding is the .txt file?
It is saved as UTF-8, so accented and non-Latin characters are preserved and open correctly in any modern editor.
Do I get one file or one per page?
You receive a single .txt file containing the text from the whole document, ready to open or process in one go.
Can I keep some formatting instead?
If you need structure, headings or tables, convert to Word with PDF to Word instead — text extraction is for raw words only.
Are images, charts or their captions included?
Captions are extracted because they are text; the images and charts themselves are not — plain text has nowhere to put them. Use PDF to JPG if you need the visuals.
Is there a limit on document length?
Only the file-size limit: text is tiny, so even documents of many hundreds of pages typically fit well within the free 20 MB.