PDF to Text Converter
Extract all text content from your PDF and download it as a clean .txt file. Perfect for copying, editing, or analysing document content — free and instant.
Drop files here or tap to browse
Max 20 MB · .PDF files accepted
How to extract text from a PDF
Upload Your PDF
Drag and drop your PDF into the upload area. Any text-based PDF up to 20MB is supported.
Extract Automatically
Click Extract Text. TryMyPdf reads every page and pulls out all embedded text content.
Download .txt File
Your text downloads as a UTF-8 .txt file that opens in any editor, instantly.
Why use TryMyPdf for PDF to text?
Full Text Extraction
Extracts every word from every page, preserving paragraph structure and line breaks.
Clean .txt Output
Downloads as a standard UTF-8 text file that opens in any text editor, Word, or code editor.
Privacy First
Your PDF is processed in memory — never stored, logged, or shared. Discarded immediately.
Text-Based PDFs Only
Works on any PDF where text was embedded at creation. Scanned/image PDFs need OCR first.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will all my text be extracted?+
Yes — all text embedded in the PDF across every page is extracted. The order follows the PDF's internal reading order, which matches the visual order in most PDFs.
Why is my extracted text garbled or missing?+
This usually means the PDF is scanned (it's an image, not text). Scanned PDFs need OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software to extract text. Only text-based PDFs work here.
Does the .txt file keep formatting like bold or tables?+
Plain text (.txt) doesn't support formatting like bold, italics, or columns. The output is unformatted running text. If you need formatting, use PDF to Word instead.
Is there a page limit?+
No page limit. Files up to 20MB are supported. Very large PDFs may take a few seconds to process.
Can I use the extracted text commercially?+
TryMyPdf doesn't restrict how you use your extracted text. However, always ensure you have the rights to extract and use content from the original PDF.
Need editable formatting? Use PDF to Word instead to get a .docx file that preserves headings and paragraph structure.
What is PDF to Text?
PDF to text conversion extracts all the text content embedded within a PDF document and saves it as a plain .txt file. Text-based PDFs store their content as actual character data that can be directly read and exported. This is fundamentally different from scanned PDFs, which are essentially images of pages with no embedded text.
When should you use it?
Convert a PDF to text when you need to copy large amounts of text without manually selecting it, when you want to analyse document content programmatically, when you need to import PDF content into a text editor or database, or when you want to quickly search and edit the raw content of a document.
How PDF to Text works under the hood
TryMyPdf uses pdf-parse to read the PDF's internal content streams page by page, extracting the character data and paragraph structure. The result is assembled into a single UTF-8 encoded text string and delivered as a .txt file. Processing happens on the server in memory — your PDF is never written to disk.
Common use cases for PDF to Text
Content Repurposing
Extract article or report text to repurpose it in a blog post, newsletter, or new document without retyping.
Text Analysis & NLP
Feed extracted text into natural language processing tools, sentiment analysis, or keyword extraction scripts.
Database Import
Extract structured text content from PDFs to import into a CMS, database, or spreadsheet for further processing.
Quick Reference Copy
Quickly grab all text from a long report to paste into a search tool, translation service, or note-taking app.
Accessibility Conversion
Convert PDF content to plain text for screen readers or assistive technology that handles text better than PDF.
Code & Data Extraction
Pull out code snippets, tables of numbers, or structured data from PDF documents for use in other applications.
Tips for best results
Use PDF to Word for formatted output
If you need headings, paragraphs, and basic formatting preserved, use PDF to Word (.docx) instead. Plain text strips all formatting.
Scanned PDFs need OCR
If the extracted text is empty or garbled, your PDF is likely scanned. You will need OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software — TryMyPdf cannot extract text from image-based PDFs.