PDF to Text

How it works

This tool extracts text directly inside your browser tab using the same PDF-parsing engine (pdf.js) that powers PDF viewing in Firefox and Chrome — no server, no upload, no waiting. Each page's text fragments are read out with their positions, then reassembled into a sensible reading order rather than the raw, often-scrambled order they're stored in.

Before extracting anything, the file is checked for a genuine text layer. If it's a scanned document — essentially a photograph of a page saved as a PDF — there's no text to extract, and you'll see an honest message instead of a silently empty result.

Password-protected PDFs are detected up front too; you'll be pointed to the Unlock PDF tool first, since text extraction needs the decrypted content pdf.js can't reliably read from an encrypted file.

Limitations

Only plain text is extracted — tables, columns, and exact spacing aren't reconstructed, and reading order is a heuristic based on text position, not a full layout analysis, so unusual page designs may not extract perfectly. Scanned PDFs without a text layer aren't processed at all; that requires OCR, which this tool doesn't currently perform.

FAQ

Is this PDF to Text tool really free?

Yes — completely free, with no file size limits and no account required. Everything runs in your browser, so there's no server cost to recoup.

Why does it say my PDF looks scanned?

A scanned PDF is really just a picture of a page saved inside a PDF wrapper — there's no underlying text to extract, only pixels. This tool checks for an actual text layer before extracting anything, and tells you honestly when one isn't there rather than silently returning nothing.

What's the difference between "reading order" and "raw" mode?

PDFs don't store text in reading order internally — they store positioned fragments in whatever order they were drawn, which is often not the order a human would read them in. "Reading order" reconstructs a sensible top-to-bottom, left-to-right sequence; "raw" mode gives you the fragments in their original stored order, useful if the reading-order heuristic gets confused by an unusual layout.

Will the extracted text preserve the original formatting?

No — this extracts plain text, not layout. Tables, multi-column text, and precise spacing aren't reconstructed; only the words and their reading-order sequence are. If you need the original layout, keep the PDF.