PDF to Text

Extract Text from PDF — Free, Private, Instant

PDFJolt's PDF to Text tool extracts all readable text from any PDF document directly in your browser using pdf.js. Your files are never uploaded to any server — making it the safest way to extract text from confidential documents like contracts, bank statements, medical records, and tax forms.

According to the World Health Organization (2024), an estimated 1.3 billion people — 16% of the global population — experience significant disability. WebAIM (2024) found that 96% of the world's top million web pages have accessibility failures. Extracting text from PDFs is a critical step toward making documents accessible to screen readers and assistive technology.

Unlike OCR tools that process scanned images, this tool extracts native text embedded in the PDF. It works instantly on digitally-created PDFs (Word exports, LaTeX documents, browser-saved pages). If your PDF was created from a scan or photo, use our Image to Text (OCR) tool instead.

Two Extraction Modes

Preserve Layout

Layout mode uses the x/y coordinates of each text element to reconstruct the original visual layout. Columns stay aligned, tables remain readable, and indentation is preserved using tabs and spacing. This mode is ideal for extracting text from multi-column documents, financial reports, invoices, and any PDF where spatial arrangement carries meaning.

Plain Text

Plain text mode concatenates all text content in reading order — top to bottom, left to right. Line breaks and whitespace are simplified to produce a clean, flowing text output. This mode is best for extracting body text from single-column documents, articles, ebooks, and letters where you want continuous prose.

How PDFJolt PDF to Text Works

PDFJolt uses Mozilla's pdf.js engine to parse the PDF structure and extract text content from each page. The process works in three steps:

1. PDF Parsing — The PDF binary is loaded into pdf.js, which decodes fonts, encodings, and text positioning data from the document structure.
2. Text Extraction — Each page's text content items are extracted with their exact x/y coordinates, font sizes, and dimensions. This preserves the spatial layout of the original document.
3. Text Assembly — Depending on your chosen mode, text items are either clustered into lines using y-coordinate proximity (layout mode) or concatenated in reading order (plain mode).

What You Can Do With Extracted Text

• Copy to clipboard — One-click copy for any page or the entire document. Paste directly into Word, Google Docs, emails, or spreadsheets.
• Download as .txt — Save the full extracted text as a plain text file with page separators. Opens in any text editor on any device.
• Search within the text — Use your browser's Ctrl+F (Cmd+F on Mac) to search through the extracted text.
• Process further — Feed the extracted text into translation tools, summarizers, or text analysis pipelines.

When to Use PDF to Text vs Other Tools

Scenario	Best Tool
Extract text from a digital PDF	PDF to Text (this tool)
Extract text from a scanned PDF or image	Image to Text (OCR)
Convert PDF to an editable Word document	PDF to Word
Extract tables from PDF to spreadsheet	PDF to Excel

PDFJolt vs Other PDF to Text Tools

Feature	PDFJolt	Adobe Acrobat	iLovePDF
Price	Free	$19.99/mo	Free (limited)
Privacy	Files never uploaded	Cloud processing	Server upload
Layout Preservation	Yes (x/y positioning)	Yes	No
Copy to Clipboard	Yes (per-page + all)	Yes	No
Download as .txt	Yes	Export only	Yes
Page Count / Char Count	Yes	No	No
Account Required	No	Yes	No
Works Offline	Yes	Desktop only	No

Common Use Cases

Copying Text from Protected PDFs

Some PDFs restrict text selection. If the PDF contains embedded text (not scanned images), PDFJolt can extract it. For password-protected files, use our Unlock PDF tool first.

Extracting Content for Translation

Extract the full text of a PDF document and paste it into Google Translate, DeepL, or any translation service. Much faster than translating page by page.

Data Entry and Migration

Pull text from old PDF reports, invoices, or records to enter into databases, spreadsheets, or modern systems.

Research and Quoting

Extract specific passages from academic papers, legal documents, or ebooks for citations and references.

Privacy & Security

PDFJolt processes your PDF entirely in your browser using Mozilla's pdf.js engine compiled to WebAssembly. Your document is never uploaded to any server. There is no cloud processing, no temporary file storage, no data collection, and no account required. This makes PDFJolt the safest choice for extracting text from sensitive documents — legal contracts, financial statements, medical records, HR documents, and anything else you wouldn't want on someone else's server.