PDF to Text Converter
Free, no signup, files auto-deleted in 1 hour.
Convert PDF to plain text (.txt) online — free, in your browser, no signup required. Drop your PDF, click Convert, and download a UTF-8 text file with the document's text extracted in reading order. Files are processed over HTTPS and deleted from our servers after one hour. Works on Windows, Mac, iPhone, and Android. No watermark, no email gate, no 30-day trial. Up to 5 conversions per day for free; sign in with Google for 10 per day plus batch ZIP downloads.
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How to convert PDF to Text
- Optional: sign in with Google to convert up to 10 PDF files per day and get them as a single ZIP of text files.
- Drop your PDF into the upload box or click to browse. Maximum size is 50 MB.
- Click Convert. We extract the text layer from the PDF in reading order and write it to a UTF-8 .txt file.
- Download the text file. It opens in any text editor, scripts cleanly with grep / awk / Python, and feeds neatly into analysis pipelines.
Why convert PDF to Text
Extracting plain text from a PDF is one of the most common preprocessing steps for data analysis, LLM training, and document indexing. A PDF's text layer is hidden inside a positioned-glyph format; flatting it to a .txt file gives you something you can read, search, or feed into a script.
Researchers, journalists, and analysts use PDF-to-text to pull quotes, statistics, or full documents into tools that expect plain text — Excel, Python pandas, Jupyter notebooks, Elastic indexes, or any LLM input pipeline.
There is a critical caveat: if the PDF is a scan (an image of text rather than real text), simple text extraction will not work — there is no text layer to extract. You need OCR (optical character recognition) first. Our Pro tier will include OCR; for now, a scanned PDF will produce an empty or near-empty text file.
Text extraction also strips formatting: headings, bold, italics, tables, and layout are gone. The output is pure prose in reading order. If you need to preserve structure, convert to Markdown or DOCX instead.
Common use cases
- Feed PDF documents into an LLM, RAG pipeline, or fine-tuning corpus.
- Search and grep across hundreds of PDFs by first converting them to text.
- Extract quotes or passages from a long report for an article or paper.
- Build a full-text search index from a library of PDFs.
- Run statistical analysis (word counts, frequency, topic modeling) on PDF content.
Tips for best results
- Scanned PDFs (image of text, not real text) require OCR — text extraction alone produces nothing. OCR ships in Pro; in the meantime, pre-process with a dedicated OCR tool.
- Multi-column layouts (academic papers, brochures) sometimes interleave text from columns. Manual cleanup is occasionally needed.
- Output is UTF-8 — handles accented characters, non-Latin scripts, and emoji correctly.
- Tables, formulas, and complex layouts are simplified to plain text. For preserving structure, convert to Markdown or DOCX.
- Footers, headers, and page numbers repeat throughout the text — strip them with a one-line regex if they get in the way.
About PDF
PDF (Portable Document Format) was introduced by Adobe in 1993. A PDF stores text as positioned glyphs — each character has explicit coordinates on the page. Extracting it as readable prose requires walking the page structure and ordering the glyphs into reading order. PDFs that are actually scans contain no text at all (only an image), which is why OCR is sometimes necessary.
About TXT
Plain text (.txt) is the simplest possible document format — UTF-8 (or ASCII) characters with no formatting, no fonts, no layout. Text files open in every editor on every operating system, script cleanly with command-line tools, and feed directly into analysis pipelines. For data work, machine learning, and full-text search, plain text is often the desired starting point.
PDF vs TXT
| Property | TXT | |
|---|---|---|
| Editable text | Locked positioning | Fully editable |
| Preserves layout | Yes | No |
| Preserves formatting (bold, headings) | Yes | No |
| Searchable | Yes (if text-based) | Yes (trivially) |
| Works in scripts / pipelines | Hard | Trivial |
| File size | Larger | Tiny |
| Works for scans | No (needs OCR) | Requires OCR upstream |
Privacy and safety
Your PDF is uploaded over HTTPS, processed in an isolated job, and deleted from our servers within one hour — along with the text output. We never train models on your content, never share files, and never require an account.
Frequently asked questions
Will OCR run on a scanned PDF?+
Not on the free tier. Scanned PDFs (image-of-text) need OCR to extract real text. OCR ships in our Pro tier — leave your email on the pricing page for early access.
What encoding does the text use?+
UTF-8 — handles accented characters, non-Latin scripts, and emoji correctly. Open in any modern text editor.
Will formatting (bold, headings, tables) be preserved?+
No. Text extraction strips all formatting. For structure, convert to Markdown or Word instead.
What happens with multi-column layouts?+
We extract in reading order column-by-column where possible. Complex multi-column layouts may need light cleanup.
Is the PDF to text converter free?+
Yes. 5 conversions per day as a guest, 10 per day signed in with Google. No card.
Is it safe to upload my PDF?+
Yes. Files are uploaded over HTTPS and deleted from our servers within one hour. We never train models on your content.
Can I use this for LLM training / RAG pipelines?+
Yes — that is a primary use case. Convert your PDFs to UTF-8 text, then chunk and embed them. Note that PDFs without a text layer require OCR first.
Does it work on Mac, Windows, iPhone, and Android?+
Yes. The converter runs in any modern browser. Text files open everywhere.
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