PDF to Text — Extract, Search & Download Text from PDF Free
Full text · Page-by-page · Download TXT/DOCX/MD · Search · Tables · Word count
Extract all text from your PDF files in seconds — no software needed. View text page by page or as a full document. Search within extracted text, detect tables and export as CSV, check word count and estimated reading time. Download as .txt, .docx, or .md. 100% browser-based — your PDF never leaves your device.
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How to Extract Text from PDF Free
Upload your PDF and click Extract Text. The tool reads all text layers in the PDF using PDF.js — the same engine used by Chrome's PDF viewer. Choose page range, enable table detection, or toggle layout preservation. Download as .txt, .docx, or .md, or copy text directly to clipboard. Completely free, no file upload to server.
Why Can't I Extract Text from My PDF?
If text extraction returns empty results, your PDF is likely a scanned document — it contains only images of text, not actual text data. The tool will warn you with a "Scanned PDF" banner. For scanned PDFs, you need OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software to convert image text into selectable text first.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I extract text from a PDF file?
Upload your PDF, configure options (page range, layout, table detection), and click Extract Text. The tool uses PDF.js to read all text layers and displays the extracted text page by page. You can then copy to clipboard or download as TXT, DOCX, or Markdown.
Why is my extracted text blank or incomplete?
If your PDF is a scanned document, it contains images of text rather than actual text data. The tool will detect this and show a "Scanned PDF" warning. You need OCR software to extract text from scanned PDFs. For regular PDFs created from Word, Excel, or similar software, extraction works fully.
Can I extract text from only specific pages?
Yes. Enable Page Range in the Options tab and enter the start and end page numbers. Only those pages will be processed. This is useful for extracting text from a chapter or specific section of a large PDF.
What does the Table Extract feature do?
The tool analyzes text positions to detect table patterns (multiple rows with consistent column alignment). Detected tables are shown separately in Markdown format and can be downloaded as .csv files for use in Excel or Google Sheets.
What formats can I download the extracted text in?
Three formats: .txt (plain text with page separators), .md (Markdown with page headings), and .docx (Word document format). The DOCX is generated using Open XML and is compatible with Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and LibreOffice.