PDF to Text Free

Pull every line of selectable text out of a PDF — copy it or download a .txt file in seconds.

What is the PDF to Text tool?

The PDF to Text tool extracts the entire text layer of a PDF into a plain, editable block you can copy or download as .txt. It’s the fastest way to reuse content from reports, ebooks and articles — for quoting, translating, feeding into other software or just searching. Line order is reconstructed intelligently, page by page.

Key features

  • Extracts all selectable text, page by page, in reading order
  • Instant Copy button plus a one-click .txt download
  • Handles any language the PDF contains, including Hindi and Arabic
  • Ideal for reusing content in editors, translators and scripts
  • Nothing uploaded — extraction runs on your device

How do I use it?

  1. Drop a text-based PDF.
  2. Click Extract text — a progress bar tracks long documents.
  3. Review the text in the editable box.
  4. Copy it, or click Download .txt to save the whole thing.

Is it safe to extract PDF text online?

Yes. The text layer is read locally by Mozilla’s PDF.js; nothing is transmitted. If no text appears, your PDF is a scan — an image of text rather than text itself — and the OCR tool is the right companion: it reads the image and produces editable text in 14+ languages.

Tips for the best result

  • Select-test first: if you can highlight text in a viewer, extraction will work perfectly.
  • Scans and photos have no text layer — use OCR for those.
  • Great for word counts, translations and plagiarism checks of your own writing.
  • The .txt is UTF-8, so Hindi, Arabic and emoji survive intact.

PDF to Text or OCR — which extractor should you use?

Use PDF to Text when the document already contains selectable text. If the PDF is a scan or the words are part of an image, use OCR — Scan to Text instead. Choosing the right extractor avoids blank or incomplete text results.

Extract all text from a PDF. Copy text from a PDF online, convert PDF to a TXT file, or extract the words of an ebook or report for translation or a word count. If the PDF is an image or a scan, use OCR to extract text from the PDF image — the text extraction guide explains which tool to choose.

PDF to TXT and PDF text extractor

The text extractor saves the PDF’s text as a TXT file you can reuse, free and with no sign-up. Text is saved as UTF-8, so Arabic, Hindi and other scripts keep their characters and direction; if the PDF is a scan, use OCR with the right language selected.

If the PDF contains an image of text, you need OCR: reading text from a PDF image or a scanned PDF is an OCR job, covered in the guide to extracting text from a PDF that contains images.

Extract all text from PDF files. Pull every word out of a PDF into one plain-text box or a TXT file, in reading order and in any language.

Frequently asked questions

How do I copy all text from a PDF at once?

Drop the PDF here and click Extract text — the full text appears in a box with a Copy button; one click grabs everything.

Why does my PDF return no text?

It’s a scanned/image PDF with no text layer. Use the OCR tool instead — it reads the image itself.

Does extraction keep the original formatting?

It keeps reading order and line breaks; styling like bold and fonts is dropped, since .txt is plain text (use PDF to Word to keep styles).

Which languages are supported?

Every language stored in the PDF’s text layer — the output is UTF-8, so nothing is mangled.

Can I extract text from a specific page only?

Extract everything (it’s fast), or Split the page out first and extract just that one-page PDF.

Is my document uploaded for extraction?

No — the PDF is parsed entirely in your browser and never leaves your device.

Can I extract text from a PDF for free?

Yes. Extracting text is free with no sign-up and no daily limit — copy it or download a TXT file. For scanned PDFs without selectable text, use OCR.

How do I save a PDF as a TXT file?

Open the PDF here, click Extract text and then Download .txt. That gives you a TXT file with one block of plain text for every page in reading order.

Related tools: OCR — Scan to Text · PDF to Word · Split PDF

Extract text from a PDF when you need a plain-text copy. If the result is empty, the pages may be scans; use OCR and review the recognized text.

🔒 Privacy: this tool runs entirely in your browser. Your file is never uploaded, stored, or shared. LyfPDF offers 33 free PDF tools, including 12 core tools localized in 7 languages, with 0 uploads — learn how it works.