Convert PDF to text

Convert PDF to text is copying paragraphs out of a report without retyping them. This tool reads the PDF's own text layer, which is exact — the author's characters, not an OCR approximation.

PDF to Text — free and local

Extracts the embedded text layer into a clean UTF-8 .txt file.

Use it now

✓ Nothing is uploaded ✓ No watermark ✓ No signup

Text layer vs OCR

A PDF produced by Word, LaTeX, Google Docs or a design tool contains a real text layer. Extracting it is lossless: every character is the one that was typed. OCR, by contrast, looks at pixels and guesses, which is why OCR output is full of "rn" for "m".

A scanned PDF has no text layer at all — it is a stack of photographs. This tool reports that honestly instead of returning plausible-looking nonsense. If the output is empty, the document needs OCR.

What the output looks like

Plain UTF-8 text with a page marker before each page, so a quote can be traced back to its source. Paragraph breaks are preserved from the layout engine where available; complex multi-column layouts may interleave, because plain text has no concept of columns.

Tables lose their structure. If the goal is a spreadsheet, converting to text and then re-parsing is usually more work than re-exporting from the original source — if you still have it.

Privacy and speed

Running locally matters more here than it sounds: documents worth extracting are often contracts, transcripts or internal reports. Nothing is uploaded, and a 300-page document processes in a couple of seconds because there is no round trip.

Questions

Why is the output empty?

The PDF is a scan with no text layer. Only OCR can help; this tool does not fake an extraction.

Are page breaks preserved?

Yes, with a page marker before each page.

Does it work on protected PDFs?

Only after the password is removed — an encrypted document cannot be read without it.

Convert PDF to TXT Extract text from a PDF Copy text from a PDF Compress PDF — Shrinks a PDF with four presets — lossless cleanup, light, balanced and extreme Compress to Size — Takes your upload limit in KB or MB and finds the best quality that still fits under it Merge PDF — Joins several PDFs into one document, in whatever order you choose Split PDF — Splits one PDF into page ranges or a single file per page, delivered as a ZIP

SlimPDF runs every tool in your browser. No file is ever uploaded, stored or shared.