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Extract Text from PDF
Pull readable text from any PDF — including scanned documents with OCR. Live preview, word count, and instant download — all in your browser.
12 powerful text extraction features
Everything you need to pull accurate text from any PDF, including scanned documents.
One-Click Text Extraction
Pull all readable text from any PDF in a single click. No copying page by page — get everything at once.
OCR for Scanned PDFs
Image-based and scanned PDFs are detected automatically. OCR technology extracts text from images with 95%+ accuracy.
Multiple Output Formats
Download extracted text as plain TXT, or copy directly to clipboard. Choose what works for your workflow.
Page Range Selection
Extract text from all pages or specify a custom range like 1-5, 8, 10-12. Skip irrelevant sections.
Live Text Preview
See extracted text before downloading. Navigate pages, verify content, and ensure accuracy before saving.
Word & Character Count
Instantly see how many pages, words, and characters were extracted. Useful for content analysis and quoting.
Reading Order Preservation
Text is extracted in logical reading order — columns, sections, and paragraphs are reconstructed intelligently.
UTF-8 & Unicode Support
Handles accented characters, Cyrillic, CJK, Arabic, and any Unicode text. No garbled output, ever.
Searchable Output
Extracted text is fully searchable — paste into any editor, search tool, or database for instant retrieval.
Instant Processing
Text extraction takes seconds, not minutes. Everything runs in your browser using PDF.js — no server queues.
100% Client-Side Privacy
Your PDF never leaves your browser. No uploads, no servers, no tracking. Complete privacy guaranteed.
Unlimited & Free
No daily limits, no file size caps, no watermarks. Extract text from as many PDFs as you want, forever.
Extract text in 3 simple steps
Upload, preview, download. No technical knowledge required.
Upload your PDF
Drag & drop or browse to select any PDF file. The tool instantly scans it for text content.
Preview & verify
Browse extracted text page by page. Check word count, verify accuracy, and select your output format.
Download or copy
Download as TXT file or copy text directly to clipboard. Paste anywhere — editors, databases, or search tools.
Why extract text from PDF?
Unlock the text trapped inside PDF documents for search, reuse, and analysis.
Make PDFs Searchable
Extract text from PDFs and paste into search tools, databases, or note-taking apps for instant retrieval.
Content Repurposing
Pull text from PDF reports, ebooks, or whitepapers to repurpose in blog posts, articles, or social media.
Data Entry Automation
Skip manual retyping. Extract text from PDF forms, invoices, or contracts and paste directly into your systems.
Accessibility
Convert PDF content to plain text for screen readers, text-to-speech tools, and assistive technologies.
Who uses this tool?
From researchers to translators — anyone who needs text from PDFs.
Extract text from academic papers for citation management, literature reviews, and systematic analysis.
Pull quotes, statistics, and reference text from PDF sources to incorporate into articles and blog posts.
Extract text data from PDF reports for processing in text analysis tools, NLP pipelines, or spreadsheets.
Pull key clauses, terms, and conditions from PDF contracts for comparison, redlining, or compliance checks.
Extract text from textbook PDFs, lecture notes, or research papers for study guides and note-taking.
Pull source text from PDF documents for translation in CAT tools, glossary building, or bilingual review.
Get the best extraction results
Pro tips for accurate, efficient text extraction from any PDF.
Use OCR mode for scanned documents
If your PDF is a scan or image-based, enable OCR mode. The tool will recognize text from images with high accuracy.
Check reading order for multi-column PDFs
Multi-column layouts can sometimes mix column order. Review the preview and manually adjust if needed.
Use page range for large PDFs
For 100+ page PDFs, use page range selection to extract only the sections you need — it is much faster.
Copy to clipboard for quick paste
Use the copy button to instantly paste extracted text into any application — no need to download a file.
Verify word count for accuracy
Check the word and character count against your expectations. A low count may indicate image-based content needing OCR.
Save as TXT for maximum compatibility
Plain text files open in any editor, on any device, forever. No formatting issues, no software dependencies.
PDFly vs. other text extraction tools
See why PDFly is the best choice for extracting text from PDFs.
Your PDF never leaves your browser
Extract Text from PDF runs 100% client-side using PDF.js. Your document is read locally and text is extracted on your device. No servers, no tracking, no data collection.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, completely free with no daily limits, no file size caps, and no watermarks. Extract text from as many PDFs as you need.
Yes. The tool automatically detects image-based pages and uses OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to extract text. OCR accuracy is typically 95%+ on clear, well-lit scans.
You can download extracted text as a plain TXT file, or copy it directly to your clipboard for pasting into any application. The text is UTF-8 encoded for full Unicode support.
The tool preserves reading order, paragraph breaks, and basic structure. However, complex formatting like fonts, colors, and exact positioning is not preserved — the output is plain text.
For digital (text-based) PDFs, extraction is 100% accurate — every character is pulled exactly as embedded. For scanned PDFs using OCR, accuracy is typically 95%+ depending on scan quality.
Yes. Use the page range field to specify which pages to extract from — e.g. "1-5, 8, 10-12". This is useful for large documents where you only need certain sections.
No. Extract Text from PDF runs entirely in your browser using PDF.js. Your PDF is read locally and text is extracted on your device. Nothing is transmitted anywhere.
Yes. The tool supports UTF-8 encoding and handles accented characters, Cyrillic, CJK (Chinese, Japanese, Korean), Arabic, Hebrew, and any other Unicode text without issues.
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