What the text looks like: a worked example
Here's a two-page invoice run through the tool, so you know what to expect before you drop in your own file. Page 1 has a heading, the date and who it's for, then a small table with three columns; page 2 has one line of payment terms. With Page markers ticked, this is the text you get, exactly as the tool shows it:
--- Page 1 --- Invoice 1042 Date: 3 March 2026 Bill to: Ana Lopes, Lisbon Item Qty Amount Website design 3 days €1,350.00 Hosting, one year 1 €96.00 Total €1,446.00 --- Page 2 --- Payment within 30 days to the account shown above.
Reading the result
Each line of the PDF comes out as a line of text, in the order the file stores it, so headings, addresses and ordinary paragraphs read naturally. Untick Page markers and the --- Page --- lines go, with a blank line left between pages: the version you want for pasting into an email or a document. The word and character counts above the text cover whatever is in the box.
Tables lose their grid. In the example, every row is still on its own line, but the columns are now only spaces apart: in "Website design 3 days €1,350.00" nothing marks where the description ends and the quantity starts. That's fine for reading or searching, and awkward for a spreadsheet. Pages set in two columns usually come out one column after the other, but that depends on how the file was made, so check the joins in anything you quote.
A scanned page has no text to extract, because it's a photo of paper. When that happens the tool says how many pages came out empty instead of handing you blank text, and points you to PDF Make Searchable, which reads scans with OCR.
Why not just copy and paste?
For a sentence or two, copying from your PDF viewer is quicker, and you should. For a whole document it gets fiddly: a selection can jump between columns or skip a box of text, long files have to be selected a page at a time, and depending on the viewer the pasted text arrives with every line as its own paragraph or run together into one block.
Here the whole file comes out in one go, every line where it was and every page marked, ready to search, quote, or paste into a translator, an AI chat or your notes. And when a page is a scan with no text behind it, you're told at once, rather than finding out when the paste comes up empty.
What to do with the text next
Plain text is the easiest form to search, quote, translate or paste into another tool. Copy it, or download it as a .txt file named after your PDF, then carry on with whichever of these fits:
- Word Counter: count the words, or check a statement or essay against a length limit.
- Find & Replace: tidy stray line breaks or change a term all the way through.
- PDF to Word: keep headings, tables and pictures in a document you can edit.
- PDF Page Extractor: pull out the pages you need first, when the file is long.
- PDF Make Searchable: give scanned pages a text layer, then extract them here.
How to Use PDF to Text
- 1Drop a PDF into the upload area.
- 2Click 'Extract text'.
- 3The text appears with its line breaks, marked page by page. Untick 'Page markers' to remove them.
- 4Copy it, or download it as a .txt file.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does it work on scanned PDFs?
A scanned PDF holds pictures of text, not text. The tool tells you when pages have no text and points you to PDF Make Searchable, which reads scans with OCR.
Are line breaks kept?
Yes. Lines come out as lines rather than one long paragraph per page. Columns and tables become plain text, so complex layouts may need tidying.
Which languages work?
Any language stored as text in the PDF, including Urdu, Arabic, Hindi and Chinese.
Can I get the text of just some pages?
Not in one step: the tool reads the whole file. For a long PDF, save the pages you want as a new file with PDF Page Extractor and extract that. Or extract everything with Page markers on and cut out the pages you need, since each one starts with its own --- Page --- line.
Why do some words come out split or run together?
A PDF stores text as pieces placed on the page, not as sentences. Most files store whole words or lines, and those come out cleanly. A few place each letter or syllable separately, which can leave odd gaps, or words run together where the file stored no space between them. It's how that file was made: copy and paste from most PDF viewers struggles with the same files. Find & Replace can tidy the result.
Does it keep bold text, tables or pictures?
No. The result is plain text, so bold and italics, a table's grid and any pictures are left out; table rows come out as lines with the cells separated by spaces. To keep the layout in an editable file, use PDF to Word instead.
What about password-protected PDFs?
If the file asks for a password when you open it, the tool can't read it and tells you so. Open it in your PDF viewer with the password, print it to a new PDF (Print, then Save as PDF), and extract the text from that copy.
Is my PDF uploaded?
No. Everything happens in your browser; the file is never uploaded to a server, so it stays on your device.
About PDF to Text
PDF to Text pulls the text out of a PDF for quoting, searching, translating, or pasting into another document or an AI tool. Lines keep their breaks, and page markers show where each page starts.
It reads the text layer with PDF.js. If some or all pages have no text (the usual sign of a scan) it says so and links to PDF Make Searchable, which can read them. Nothing is uploaded.