PDF to Text

Copy selectable text or save it as TXT, Markdown or JSON.

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PDF to Text help

Extract existing selectable text from a PDF and copy it or save it as TXT, Markdown or JSON. Use the output for notes, searching or moving words into another application.

How to use PDF to Text

  1. Choose the PDF and enter a selection in Pages, or leave it blank for the whole document.
  2. Select Extract text and inspect each Preview page for missing or misplaced words.
  3. Choose Save as for TXT, Markdown or JSON according to how you will use the text.
  4. Use the Download button for that format, or Copy this page for the current preview.
Options explained
Pages (leave blank for all)
Extract words from all pages or enter a smaller range for a chapter or section.
Preview page
Check the extracted words against the corresponding page before copying them.
Save as
Plain text (.txt) suits simple notes, Markdown (.md) suits text workflows, and JSON (.json) keeps structured page output.
Process all files
Choose multiple inputs for pdf to text. This runs the settings above separately for each file, shows individual results and failures, and offers Cancel file, Cancel all files and Download batch as ZIP. Check that page positions or form fields suit every input.
Limits and supported files

PDF documents. An opening password is required when the file needs one to be read.

Local tests used synthetic 10, 50, 100 and 200 MB PDFs containing large images. Chromium, Firefox and WebKit: completed 10, 50, 100, 200 MB.

Extract text from up to 500 selected pages at once. Chromium, Firefox and WebKit: completed 50, 300 text pages; 1000 text pages did not complete.

PDF to text was tested on a 16 GB Mac with Chromium, Firefox and WebKit. “Did not complete” includes input limits, errors and test timeouts; try a smaller selection. These are observed examples, not guaranteed limits on your device. WebKit tests do not replace a check in Safari on your own device.

Up to 100 input files and 512 MB total; up to 200 output files or 512 MB. ZIPs over 128 MB need Chrome/Edge direct disk saving; use individual downloads in other browsers. The Workflow stress test completed 100 synthetic files in all three engines; this does not guarantee the same capacity for every conversion.

Questions

Why is a scanned page missing text?

A scanned page may contain only a picture of the words. This tool reads existing PDF text; it does not recognize text from pictures. Use OCR when the words cannot be selected in a PDF viewer.

Will columns and tables keep their layout?

Text extraction does not guarantee the original reading order or page layout. Review columns, tables and unusual fonts. PDF to Word or PDF to Excel may be more useful when you need an editable document or table.

Can I extract text from only one chapter?

Extract words from all pages or enter a smaller range for a chapter or section.

How can I check whether extracted text is correct?

Check the extracted words against the corresponding page before copying them.

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