PDF Extract Text Tool
Pull every word of selectable text out of a PDF. Built on PDF.js, runs entirely in your browser — your document never leaves your device.
Extract Text From PDF — Fast, Free, In Your Browser
Tool Introduction
PDF Extract Text is a free, browser-based tool that pulls every word of selectable text out of a PDF document in seconds. It is perfect for copying article content into a CMS, archiving research papers as plain text, extracting invoice data into spreadsheets, mining log files, or quote-mining books. Powered by Mozilla's PDF.js engine, the entire extraction runs inside your browser using JavaScript — the PDF never travels to any server, which makes the tool safe for sensitive files like medical records, legal contracts, financial reports, and personal ID scans. The output preserves reading order, page breaks, and most punctuation; scanned image-only PDFs without an embedded text layer will return empty text (use OCR for those).
How to Use
- Click "Select PDF file" and pick your document (up to 50MB)
- Click "Extract Text" — extraction runs page by page
- Read the text in the box, click "Copy" to clipboard, or "Download .txt" to save
Common Use Cases
- Copying article or report text into a CMS or word processor
- Archiving research papers as searchable plain text
- Extracting invoice or receipt text into spreadsheets
- Pulling data from government or tax PDFs for scripting
FAQ
Q: Why is the output empty for a scanned PDF?
A: Scanned PDFs are images, not text. Use an OCR tool first, or open in Adobe and "Save as text".
Q: Are page breaks preserved?
A: Yes. Each page is separated by a blank line for readability.
Q: Is my PDF uploaded?
A: No. 100% client-side using PDF.js — the file stays on your device.
Q: How big can the PDF be?
A: Up to 50MB recommended. Larger files work but need more memory.
Pro Tips
Pipe the output through a regex or sed to strip headers/footers before analysis.
Need just the images? Use the PDF Extract Images tool.
For huge files, run extraction in Chrome with --max-old-space-size=8192 to boost memory.
📚 Related PDF Tools: PDF Merge · PDF Split · PDF Extract Text · PDF Extract Images · PDF Compress · PDF Encrypt · PDF Watermark · PDF Rotate