Extract Text from PDF
Extracting text from PDFs can mean either copying embedded text or running OCR (Optical Character Recognition) on scanned documents. Browser-based OCR has significant limitations.
Direct PDF to TXT is not available in-browser
See the recommended alternatives below.
Text-Based vs Scanned PDFs
If your PDF was created digitally (e.g., from Word or Google Docs), it contains embedded text that can be copied directly. If your PDF is a scan or photo, the text is actually an image and requires OCR.
Browser OCR Limitations
True OCR requires substantial processing power and specialized models. Browser-based OCR libraries exist (Tesseract.js) but are slow and less accurate than server-based alternatives. We don't currently offer this feature.
Alternative: Copy Text Directly
For digitally-created PDFs, open the file in your browser's built-in PDF viewer and use Ctrl+A (Cmd+A on Mac) to select and copy all text. This works for most business documents.
Desktop Alternatives
For scanned PDFs, use Adobe Acrobat's OCR feature, Google Drive's built-in OCR (upload the PDF and open as Google Doc), or ABBYY FineReader for professional-grade results.
Convert PDF to Other Formats
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I convert PDF to TXT for free?
- Yes. Follow the recommended workflow on this page.
- Are my PDF files uploaded to a server?
- No. All processing uses pdf.js in your browser. Your documents never leave your device.
- Can I convert multi-page PDFs?
- Yes. Each page is converted to a separate image file that you can download individually.
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