PDF to text: copy or download the text of any PDF

Drop a PDF and get its selectable text as editable plain text, page by page. Copy it or save it as TXT. Nothing leaves your device.

Runs in your browser Free No sign-up
  1. Choose file
  2. Set options
  3. Get result

Your file never leaves your device. Processed locally in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.

How it works

GustKit reads the text layer of the PDF with pdf.js (the engine inside Firefox) and rebuilds the lines in reading order. Each page is labelled so you can find your place.

Scanned PDFs

If the PDF is a scan, it only contains pictures of text. In that case convert the pages to JPG and run them through Image to text (OCR), which is also free and local.

Frequently asked questions

Will the formatting be kept?

No. The output is plain text. Tables and columns become lines of text, which is ideal for copying, searching or pasting into another document.

Does it work with password-protected PDFs?

Not yet. Open the PDF with its password in your PDF reader and save an unprotected copy first.