Free online tool by DocsBolt
Extract Text from PDF
Get the words out of a PDF as plain text — to paste into an email, feed into a script, or search through a long report without a PDF viewer.
Extract text from a PDF free online. Pull the plain text out of any PDF with a text layer into a .txt file, all pages or a range — no login, instant download.
What this tool includes
Output
TXT
Accepts: .pdf
Extract Text
Upload your file, choose any optional settings, and download the result.
Workflow
Upload the PDF
Any PDF with selectable text.
Choose pages
Leave empty for the whole document.
Download the .txt
Pages are separated by a marker line.
FAQ
Why is my output empty or tiny?
The PDF has no text layer — it is a scan, i.e. pictures of pages. Run it through OCR PDF first, then extract the text from the result.
Does it keep the formatting?
No. Plain text has no bold, headings or tables. If you need those, use PDF to Word or PDF to Markdown.
What about text in two columns?
Columns are read in the order they were laid out in the file, which is usually left column then right. Occasionally a designer's file interleaves them; PDF to Word handles those better.
Why are some words joined together or split oddly?
The PDF stores text as positioned fragments, not as sentences, and a few generators leave out the spaces. The tool reconstructs them from position, which works for the vast majority of files; the odd exception comes from unusual typesetting.
Does it read text inside images?
No. Text that is part of a picture — a screenshot pasted into the PDF, a scanned page — is pixels, not characters. Run OCR PDF on the file first.
Can I extract just one page?
Yes. Enter the page number, or a range such as 5-9, in the page range box.
About Extract Text
Sometimes the PDF is just in the way. You want the words in a spreadsheet cell, a chat message, a script, or a search — and copying page by page out of a viewer mangles the line breaks and drops half of it. This tool reads every page's text layer and writes it to a plain .txt file, with a marker between pages so you can find your place. There is no formatting because plain text has none; that is the point. If you need the headings and tables to survive, PDF to Word or PDF to Markdown keep them. If the file is a scan, there is no text layer to read and you will want OCR PDF first.
What you get with Extract Text
- Plain .txt output, page by page
- All pages or a page range
- Keeps line breaks
Extract Text at a glance
- Input formats
- Output format
- TXT
- Batch upload
- One file at a time
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