About PDF to Text
PDF to Text pulls every word out of a PDF and saves it as a plain text file, page by page. It is the quickest fix when copy and paste from a PDF gives you a mess.
Copy and paste from a PDF can be painful. This tool pulls out all the text in one go, page by page. It works on PDFs that contain real text. If your PDF is a scan (a picture of a page), there is no text to extract.
How to use PDF to Text
- Choose your PDF.
- Press Extract text.
- Download the .txt file.
When to use PDF to Text
- Copy the full text of a long report or article into your own notes.
- Run a document through a word counter or a text analysis tool.
- Move text from a PDF into an email, a website or a spreadsheet.
- Check what a document says without opening a heavy PDF viewer.
Tips for better results
- Try selecting a sentence in your PDF. If you can highlight single words, the file has real text and will work.
- Fonts, tables and layout are not kept. You get text and its order.
- Scanned PDFs are pictures and need OCR, which this tool does not do.
Why use 40PDF for this?
Reading text locally means private documents such as contracts and letters are not uploaded to be processed on someone else's server.
PDF to Text: questions and answers
It says no text was found. Why?
The PDF is probably a scan or a photo. Those need OCR, which this tool does not do.
Will layouts and tables be kept?
No. You get plain text, line by line.
How do I extract text from a PDF?
Open PDF to Text, add your file and press Extract text. Download the .txt file with each page marked.
Why does it say no text was found?
Your PDF is probably a scan, which is a picture of a page with no text inside. It would need OCR to be read.
Does the tool keep tables and formatting?
No. The output is plain text, so layout, fonts and tables are not preserved.