Extract text
Copy the PDF's text layer. Scanned pages need OCR instead.
Runs in this tab. The file stays here.
About Extract text
Copy a PDF’s text layer to the page or a .txt download — offline; scans need OCR instead.
Sometimes you need the words, not the layout: quote a paragraph, search offline, feed another tool. Extract text pulls the PDF.js text layer into a textarea and optional .txt file.
Image-only scans have no text layer — you will get nothing useful until you run OCR searchable PDF (or Edit PDF text, which can OCR). Tables will come out as reading-order text, not a spreadsheet; use PDF to Excel when the page is genuinely tabular.
PDF to audio reads the same text layer aloud if you want listen-instead-of-read.
How to use Extract text
- 1Drop a PDF with a text layer.
- 2Extract.
- 3Copy from the box or download .txt.
What it won't do
- Text layer only — not OCR by itself.
- Not a structured table extractor (see PDF to Excel).
Common questions
Why is the output empty?
Likely a scan or image-only PDF. Use OCR first, then extract.
Is reading order perfect?
It follows the text layer order PDF.js exposes. Multi-column pages can interleave oddly — that is the file, not a secret setting.
Is the PDF uploaded?
No.
Related tools
- OCR searchable PDFRun Tesseract on each page and rebuild with an invisible text layer (best-effort).
- PDF to audioExtract the text layer and read it with local speechSynthesis.
- PDF to WordBest-effort .docx from the PDF text layer. Tables and columns may not round-trip.
- Edit PDF textClick any paragraph and type in place. Auto-OCR for scans. Whiteout + redraw on download.
Why this one doesn't upload your file
There is no server to upload to. This page is a static file, and the work happens in your browser using the same graphics and WebAssembly code that renders every other site you visit. Your file is read from disk into memory, processed, and handed back as a download. Once the page has loaded you can disconnect from the network entirely and it keeps working. The longer explanation