Convert PDF to TXT
To convert PDF to TXT, drop your PDF into the converter on this page and press Convert to TXT. The text layer of each page is extracted in your browser and saved as a plain .txt file, so the document never leaves your machine.
Runs in your browser. Your file never leaves your device.Drop your PDF hereChoose a PDF to convert
It becomes a TXT right in your browser, up to 100 MB
Your file never leaves your device
Works in airplane mode. See the proof
Limits, published exactly
| Where it runs | In your browser. The file never leaves your device. |
|---|---|
| Free conversions | Unlimited. No account, no ads, no queue, no watermark. |
| Max file size, free | 100 MB |
Why convert PDF to TXT?
Sometimes you only want the words, not the layout. Quoting from a report, feeding a document to a script, searching across pages, or handing clean content to a language model all go better with plain text than with a PDF. Extracting it strips away the formatting, columns and page furniture and leaves the content you can paste and edit anywhere. Running it in the browser keeps a confidential document on your own machine instead of uploading it to an online extractor.
What is PDF?
PDF (Portable Document Format) is the 1993 Adobe format that froze documents into a fixed, device-independent layout, and it has since become the legal and professional standard for anything that must look the same everywhere: contracts, invoices, forms, papers. A PDF can contain vector text, images, fonts and annotations. Editing one is famously awkward, which is exactly the point; it is a final-form format.
What is TXT?
A .txt file is just text with no formatting, fonts, or layout, which is what makes it universal and future-proof. It is the right home for notes, logs, and anything you want every device to open forever. To share it as a fixed page you turn it into a PDF; to pull words back out of a PDF you extract its text layer.
Quality and what to expect
This reads the text layer the PDF already carries, so a born-digital PDF exported from a word processor comes through cleanly, page by page. A scanned PDF is really a stack of images with no text layer, so it produces little or nothing; turning a scan into words needs OCR, a separate and heavier process. Complex multi-column layouts and tables flatten to a reading order that may not match the visual one, and exact spacing is approximate.
PDF to TXT FAQ
Why is my scanned PDF coming out empty?
Because a scan is an image, not text. This tool extracts an existing text layer; a scanned page has none, so there is nothing to pull out. You would need OCR for that.
Is the PDF uploaded?
No. The text is extracted by pdf.js running in your browser, so the document and its contents stay on your device.
Does it keep the original layout?
No. Plain text has no layout, so columns, tables and positioning flatten to a reading order. Keep the PDF, or convert it to an image, if the visual layout matters.