Get the text out of a PDF

Copy the words out of a document when selecting them by hand is painful — all of it at once, page by page.

Text

This copies the real text out of the document. A scanned page holds a picture instead, and has no text to take.

Add a PDF to start
Your file never leaves this device. How that works

How to get the text out of a PDF

STEP 1

Add your PDF

Drop it on the box above or pick it from your files.

STEP 2

Get the text

It appears in one box, with a marker where each page starts if you want one.

STEP 3

Copy or save it

Copy the lot to your clipboard, or save it as a plain text file.

Why some PDFs have no text at all

A PDF made from a document — exported from a word processor, printed to PDF, generated by a system — carries the real words inside it, and they come straight out.

A PDF made by scanning or photographing paper carries a picture of the words instead. Nothing here can copy those, because as far as the file is concerned there is no text on the page, only ink.

Reading those needs text recognition, which is a different job and not built yet. If your document comes out empty, that is what it is telling you.

Questions

Is my file uploaded anywhere?

No. The work happens inside this tab, on your own machine. Open your browser's network tab while you use the tool, there is no request carrying your file.

Is there a file size limit?

None set by us. Very large files are limited only by your device's memory, and we warn you before that becomes a problem.

Do I need an account?

No, and there is no daily limit either. There is nothing to sign up for.

Why is my document empty?

It is a scan — a picture of a page rather than a page. There is no text in it to take.

Does it keep the layout?

No. You get the words in reading order, not the columns, tables and spacing around them.

Next, you might want to

PDF to JPGExport every page as an imageSplit PDFPull out pages or break one file apartMerge PDFCombine files into one, in any orderCompress PDFGet under an email or upload limit