Extract Text from PDF
Pull all the text out of a PDF as plain text, in proper reading order.
How do I extract text from a PDF without Word or uploading it anywhere?
Upload your PDF and this tool pulls out all the text in seconds, ready to copy or download as a .txt file. It's free, requires no signup, and processing happens entirely in your browser through a WebAssembly engine — the file is never uploaded to any server. Unlike opening the PDF and manually selecting all the text, which is slow on long documents and sometimes copies content in the wrong order, this tool extracts everything in one pass and shows you a character and word count when it's done. If the PDF has scanned pages with no real text layer, it flags exactly which ones instead of returning empty or fabricated text, because this tool doesn't run OCR. It also works with password-protected PDFs — just enter the password in an optional field before extracting.
How to use Extract Text from PDF
- Drag your PDF into the upload zone or click to select it.
- If the file is password-protected, enter the password in the optional field — it's only used inside your browser.
- Click 'Extract text' and wait for processing to finish.
- Check the character and word count, plus the warning about scanned pages with no text if it applies.
- Copy the text to your clipboard or download it as a .txt file.
Common use cases
Moving PDF content into a text editor or Word
Extract all the text from a PDF in one pass to paste into Word, Google Docs, or any editor, instead of manually selecting and copying page by page.
Searching for a word or phrase inside a long PDF
Convert the PDF to plain text and use your favorite text editor's search to quickly find a clause, a name, or a data point inside a document dozens of pages long.
Preparing text for analysis or automated processing
If you need to feed a PDF's content into a script, spreadsheet, or any tool that only accepts plain text, this extraction skips the hassle of dealing with the original PDF formatting.
Reviewing the contents of a password-protected PDF
Enter the document's password and get the extracted text without needing a PDF reader with support for encrypted files.
Frequently asked questions
How is this different from converting a PDF to Markdown?
This tool outputs plain text with no headings or formatting — ideal when you just need the raw content. If you want to preserve the document's structure (headings, lists) for pasting into an AI chat or a Markdown editor, use the PDF-to-Markdown converter instead.
What happens if the PDF is a scan with no real text layer?
The tool detects which pages are scanned images with no extractable text and flags them clearly. It doesn't run OCR, so those pages' content won't appear in the output — that's an honest limitation, not a bug.
Is it safe to extract text from a confidential document with this tool?
Yes. All processing happens in your browser via WebAssembly; the file is never uploaded to a server. You can even disconnect from the internet after the page loads and extraction still works.
Does it work with password-protected PDFs?
Yes, there's an optional field to enter the password. It's used once, inside your browser, to read the file — it's never sent to any server.
Why does it show a character and word count?
It's useful for quickly checking the size of the extracted content — for example, to see whether it fits within a form's limit, a database field, or an AI model's context window.
Is there a file size limit?
You can process PDFs up to 500 MB. Since everything runs in your browser, extraction time depends on the document's size and your device's processing power, not a server queue.