About this tool
Extract the text layer of a PDF into clean, copyable plain text. Drop a file and every page is read in order, with a page marker between pages, then you can copy the result to the clipboard or download it as a .txt file.
Everything runs locally in your browser — your document never leaves your device and nothing is stored anywhere. That makes it safe for contracts, invoices, statements and other sensitive files.
Note that this tool reads the embedded text layer that a PDF viewer lets you select and copy. Scanned documents are just photographs of pages with no text layer, so they will come out empty — for those, use an OCR tool to recognize the characters instead.
Frequently asked questions
Why did my PDF produce no text?
It is most likely a scanned document: the pages are images with no selectable text layer. This tool does not perform OCR — run the pages through the Image OCR tool on this site to recognize scanned text.
Is the PDF uploaded to a server?
No. The text is extracted by a PDF engine running entirely in your browser tab, so the file never leaves your device — safe for confidential documents.
Does it keep the original layout?
Line breaks are preserved where the PDF marks them, but columns, tables and exact spacing are flattened into reading order — PDF is a print format, so perfect layout recovery is not always possible.
Can I extract only some pages?
The tool extracts every page and inserts a "Page N" separator between them, so you can quickly find and copy just the section you need from the output box.