PDF to Text
Extract text from a PDF. Your files never leave your device — all processing happens locally in your browser.
Drop your PDF here
or click to choose a file
Your files never leave your device.
Extracts the text content stream of each page. Scanned (image-only) PDFs have no text layer — the result will be empty for those files.
PDF to Text extracts the text content stream of each page using PDF.js in a Web Worker. The result is shown in an in-page preview and offered as a .txt download, with a copy-to-clipboard button for pasting into other apps. The extraction runs entirely in your browser — your file is never uploaded. Scanned (image-only) PDFs have no text layer and will yield an empty result; the tool surfaces this honestly rather than faking OCR.
How it works
How to use PDF to Text
- 1Drop your PDF. Drag and drop a PDF file onto the drop zone, or click to choose a file from your device.
- 2Optionally set a page range. Enter pages like 1,3,5-7 to extract text from only those pages. Leave empty for all pages.
- 3Click Run PDF to Text. The tool reads the text content stream of each page using PDF.js in a Web Worker on your device.
- 4Preview, copy, or download. The extracted text is shown in a preview area. Copy it to the clipboard or download it as a .txt file.
Features
What this tool does
- Extracts text from all or selected pages
- Optional layout preservation (inserts line breaks based on page layout)
- In-page preview with per-page breakdown
- Copy to clipboard or download as .txt
- No upload — runs entirely in your browser
Limitations
Things to know
- Scanned (image-only) PDFs have no text layer — the result will be empty (OCR is not performed; see the OCR guide)
- Layout reconstruction is best-effort; complex multi-column layouts may not match the visual reading order
- Embedded fonts with broken ToUnicode mappings may produce garbled text
- Text inside images is not extracted (only the real text content stream is read)
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Why is the result empty?
The PDF is most likely scanned (image-only) or the text was baked into images. There is no text in the content stream to extract. The fix is OCR — see How to Make a PDF Searchable for trusted local OCR tools. IXPDF does not fake OCR in the browser (accuracy is not reliable enough to ship).
Does this work on encrypted PDFs?
No. If the PDF is password-protected, the tool shows an "encrypted" error. Decrypt the file first, then extract the text.
What does "Preserve layout" do?
When checked, the tool inserts line breaks based on the y-position of text items on the page, producing text closer to the visual layout. When unchecked, text items are joined with spaces, which is better for full-text search and copy-paste.
Is the extracted text accurate?
For PDFs with a real text layer (not scanned), the extracted text matches what you see. PDFs with broken font encoding (missing ToUnicode mapping) may produce garbled characters — this is a property of the file, not a bug in the tool.
Can I extract text from specific pages only?
Yes. Enter a page range like 1,3,5-7 in the Page range field. Only those pages will be extracted, in the order listed.
Is my file uploaded anywhere?
No. Text extraction happens entirely in your browser using a Web Worker. Your file and the extracted text never leave your device.