How to extract text from a PDF
- Upload the PDFThe Extract text tab is preselected.
- Preview the textIt appears below, page by page.
- Download the .txtEach page is separated by a “===== Page N =====” marker.
- Optional: summarizeSwitch to Summary or Ask questions on the same document.
Why copy-paste from a PDF often fails
Copying text from a PDF viewer often produces broken lines, missing spaces, merged columns or nothing at all. That's because a PDF stores positioned characters, not paragraphs. Extraction tools rebuild the reading order from those positions; scanned PDFs have no characters at all and need OCR. Our guide on why PDF text extraction fails explains the common cases.
What you get
- Reading-order text — columns are read in order rather than line by line across the page.
- Page markers — handy to cite or to split the text.
- Clean characters — invisible control characters removed, hyphenated line breaks rejoined.
Limits
Tables are extracted as text lines, not as spreadsheets. Text inside images is only read for scanned pages (OCR), not for pictures embedded in otherwise digital PDFs. Layout (fonts, bold, positions) is not kept — this is plain text.
Frequently asked questions
Is PDF to text free?
Yes, free and without an account.
Does it work with scanned PDFs?
Yes. Pages without a text layer are read with OCR (first 40 pages of a scanned PDF on the free tool).
Can I convert PDF to Word?
This tool gives plain text. Paste it into Word or Google Docs; formatting such as tables and images is not kept.
How long is the text kept?
The text can be downloaded for 60 minutes after upload, then it is deleted. The PDF itself is deleted immediately.
Can I extract text from a password-protected PDF?
Not directly. Open it with the password and use Print → Save as PDF to create an unprotected copy.