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Convert PDF to TXT - Extract Text Instantly

Extract plain text from PDF documents. Copy, edit, and process your content freely.

Step 1: Upload your files

You can also Drag and drop files.

Step 2: Choose format
Step 3: Convert files

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Need the Text from a PDF?

You have a PDF with content you need to use elsewhere-a contract clause, report data, or article excerpt-but copying text from PDFs can be frustrating. Selection is unreliable, formatting comes along for the ride, and sometimes you can't select text at all.

Converting to TXT solves this completely. You get pure, clean text that works anywhere. In our testing, TXT extraction captures all readable content while stripping away the formatting overhead that causes problems when pasting into other applications.

Whether you're working with PDF files from business documents, academic papers, or downloaded content, converting to plain text gives you full control over the content.

How to Convert PDF to TXT

  1. Upload your PDF - Drag and drop or click to select your document
  2. Confirm TXT output - TXT is selected as your target format
  3. Download your text file - Open it in any text editor or application

The entire process takes seconds. No account required, no software to install, no waiting for email links.

Why Convert PDF to Plain Text?

PDF is designed to preserve exact document appearance-fonts, spacing, layout, images. This makes PDFs great for sharing finished documents but problematic when you need just the text content.

TXT files contain pure text with no formatting instructions. This simplicity is actually a strength:

  • Universal compatibility - Every device, operating system, and text editor opens TXT files
  • Easy editing - No proprietary software needed to modify the content
  • Clean copying - Paste text anywhere without bringing formatting problems
  • Smaller file size - Text files are typically 90% smaller than the source PDF
  • Script-friendly - TXT files work seamlessly with programming and automation tools

In our testing, a 2MB PDF with 50 pages of text converts to a TXT file under 200KB-making storage and transfer significantly easier.

Common Use Cases

Data Extraction for Analysis

Researchers and analysts often need to process text from multiple PDF reports. Converting to TXT allows batch processing, keyword searching, and importing into analysis software without compatibility issues.

Content Repurposing

Writers and marketers working with existing PDF content can extract text cleanly, then reformat for new purposes-blog posts, social media, documentation, or email campaigns.

Accessibility Improvements

Plain text files work better with screen readers and assistive technologies. Converting PDFs to TXT can make content more accessible to users with visual impairments.

Programming and Automation

Developers building text processing pipelines need clean input data. TXT files integrate easily with scripts, databases, and natural language processing tools.

PDF vs TXT: Technical Comparison

FeaturePDFTXT
File sizeLarger (includes fonts, formatting)Much smaller (text only)
FormattingPreserved exactlyNone (plain text)
ImagesEmbeddedNot supported
CompatibilityRequires PDF readerOpens anywhere
EditingRequires special softwareAny text editor
SearchabilityDepends on PDF typeAlways fully searchable

PDF excels at preserving document appearance for sharing. TXT excels when you need the content without the container.

What About Scanned PDFs?

PDFs come in two types: text-based (where text is stored as characters) and scanned (where pages are images). Our converter extracts text from text-based PDFs reliably.

For scanned PDFs-essentially photographs of documents-the text exists only as pixels. Extracting this text requires OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology, which analyzes letter shapes to convert them to actual characters.

In our testing, text-based PDFs convert with near-perfect accuracy. Scanned PDFs may require OCR processing for optimal results. If you're unsure which type you have, try selecting text in your PDF reader-if you can highlight individual words, it's text-based.

Alternative Formats to Consider

TXT isn't always the best choice depending on your needs:

  • PDF to DOCX - Keep some formatting while gaining editability in Word
  • PDF to HTML - Preserve structure for web publishing
  • PDF to RTF - Basic formatting that works across word processors

Choose TXT when you need pure content with maximum compatibility. Choose formatted alternatives when preserving structure matters.

Batch Processing Multiple PDFs

Have a folder full of PDFs that need text extraction? Upload multiple files at once and convert them all to TXT in a single session. This is particularly useful for:

  • Processing archived documents
  • Preparing content for migration to new systems
  • Creating searchable text versions of document libraries
  • Extracting data for spreadsheet or database import

Each PDF converts independently, giving you individual TXT files that maintain the original filenames.

Works on Any Device

Our PDF to TXT converter runs entirely in your browser:

  • Windows, Mac, Linux, Chromebook
  • Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge
  • iPhone, iPad, Android tablets and phones

No downloads, no installations, no compatibility concerns. If your device has a modern web browser, you can convert PDFs to text.

Pro Tip

Before converting large documents, try selecting and copying text manually in your PDF reader. If you can select text, the PDF is text-based and will convert cleanly. If text selection fails or copies as garbled characters, the PDF may be scanned or have font encoding issues.

Common Mistake

Expecting perfect layout preservation from multi-column PDFs. Complex layouts with sidebars, tables, or multiple columns often result in text appearing out of order. For layout-sensitive content, consider PDF to DOCX conversion instead.

Best For

Data extraction, content migration, programming workflows, and any situation where you need clean text to copy, search, or process. Ideal for feeding content into scripts, databases, or text analysis tools.

Not Recommended

Don't convert to TXT if you need to preserve the document's visual layout, tables, or images. For formatted output, use PDF to DOCX or PDF to HTML. TXT is purely for raw text content.

Frequently Asked Questions

No, and that's intentional. TXT files contain only raw text without any formatting-no fonts, colors, or layout. This makes the output universally compatible and easy to work with in any application.

Scanned PDFs are essentially images, so text extraction depends on the PDF containing a text layer. For image-only scanned PDFs, you'll need OCR (Optical Character Recognition) processing. Try selecting text in your PDF reader first-if you can highlight words, our converter will extract them.

Images are not included in the TXT output. TXT is a text-only format that cannot store images. Only the textual content from your PDF is extracted and saved.

Text is extracted in reading order from top to bottom, left to right. Multi-column layouts may result in text appearing in a different sequence than expected. Single-column documents convert with the most predictable results.

Our converter handles standard document sizes efficiently. Very large PDFs (hundreds of pages) may take longer to process but will convert successfully. The resulting TXT file will be significantly smaller than the source PDF.

Yes. Conversion happens in your browser, and files are processed locally. Your documents aren't stored on servers or accessible to anyone else. Once you close the browser tab, the data is gone.

PDFs with passwords need to be unlocked before conversion. If you know the password, open the PDF in a reader, enter the password, and save an unprotected copy first. We cannot bypass PDF security.

Output files use UTF-8 encoding, which supports virtually all languages and special characters. This ensures your text displays correctly regardless of what software you open it with.

PDFs include embedded fonts, formatting data, images, and rendering instructions. TXT files contain only the raw characters. A 2MB PDF might become a 50KB TXT file because all that overhead is stripped away.

Yes. Upload multiple PDF files and convert them all in a single batch. Each PDF produces its own TXT file, named to match the original document.

TXT contains only plain text with no formatting. RTF and DOCX support fonts, styles, and layout but require compatible software. Choose TXT for maximum compatibility and simplicity, or formatted alternatives when you need to preserve styling.

Basic line breaks are preserved in the extraction. However, paragraph spacing and layout-based formatting may not transfer exactly as they appear in the PDF since TXT only supports simple line breaks.

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