How to use PDF to Text
- Choose your PDF.
- The text of every page appears in a box.
- Copy it, or download it as a .txt file.
What you get
The words in reading order, page by page. Layout such as columns, tables and fonts is not kept — this is for getting at the text, not for recreating the design. Paste it into the voice typing box on the home page to keep working on it.
Scanned PDFs
A scanned page is a photograph of text, with no real letters inside, so there is nothing to extract and the result is empty. Reading scans needs OCR, which this tool does not do. Older Punjabi or Hindi PDFs made with non-Unicode fonts may also come out as wrong characters.
Other names for this job
This covers extracting text from a PDF, copying text from a PDF, converting a PDF to a TXT file, and getting the words out of a PDF so they can be edited. It reads PDFs that contain real text; it is not an OCR tool for scanned pages.
Free, private and without a watermark
PDF to Text runs in your browser, so the file is not uploaded and no watermark is added. You can open a file and try the tool without signing in. To download the result, create a free Bol Ke Likho account — an email address and a six-digit code, no password and no card.
Questions people ask
Why is the result empty?
The PDF is probably a scan (a picture of text). This tool reads real text only.
Does it work for Punjabi and Hindi?
Yes, when the PDF was made with Unicode text. Old legacy-font PDFs may not convert correctly.
Is the layout kept?
No, only the words.
How do I copy text from a PDF?
Open the PDF here. The text appears in a box; press Copy text, or download it as a text file.
How do I convert a PDF to an editable text file?
Press Download text file. The .txt file opens in any editor, and you can paste the words into Word or Google Docs.
Is PDF to Text free? Is there a watermark?
Yes, it is free, and no watermark is added to your file. You can try the tool without an account; a free Bol Ke Likho account is needed to download the result. No payment details are asked for.
Is it safe to use PDF to Text online here?
Your file is processed inside your own browser and is not uploaded to our servers, which is the main risk with online PDF tools. Close the page and nothing is kept.
More PDF tools
- PDF to JPGSave every page of a PDF as a JPG picture.
- PDF to PNGSave PDF pages as crisp PNG images.
- Merge PDFJoin several PDFs into one file, in the order you choose.
- Split PDFCut one PDF into several files by page ranges, or one file per page.
- Delete PDF pagesRemove the pages you do not want and keep the rest.
- Extract PDF pagesPick the pages you need and save them as a new PDF.