Text extraction

How to Extract Text from a PDF

Extracting text turns a PDF’s selectable text layer into a plain text file. It works well for reports and digital documents, while scanned pages usually need OCR first.

Last updated: 2026-08-27

Steps

  1. Open Extract Text

    Add the PDF that contains the text you need.

  2. Review the extracted text

    Check the page-by-page text preview for missing or reordered content.

  3. Copy or download the result

    Copy the text or download it as a TXT file.

  4. Use OCR for scans

    If no text appears, run the file through PDF OCR and extract again.

Know whether the PDF has a text layer

Try selecting a word in your PDF reader. If you can highlight characters, ordinary text extraction should find them.

If the page behaves like a single image, use PDF OCR first. OCR adds a searchable text layer that extraction can read.

Expect layout changes

PDFs position text visually rather than storing it as a flowing document. The extracted text may place columns, headers, and footers in a different order.

Use the result for search, copying, and reuse, then compare important passages with the original page.

Related tools

  • Extract TextPull all selectable text out of a PDF into a text file.
  • PDF to HTMLConvert a PDF into a clean, editable HTML document.
  • PDF OCRRecognize text in scanned PDFs and make them searchable.