Convert PDF to Text — Extract Text Free Online
Overview
Sometimes you just need the words. Extracting text from a PDF lets you paste content into another document, run it through a spell checker, feed it to an AI tool, or archive it in a searchable format. PDF Mavericks pulls the text layer from any text-based PDF — no OCR needed if the document was created digitally.
How to Use This Tool
Go to the Convert page and upload your PDF. Select 'PDF to Text' as the output format. Click Convert and download the .txt file. The extracted text preserves paragraph structure as best as the PDF encoding allows. For scanned PDFs, text extraction requires OCR — use a text-based PDF for the best results.
Ready to get started? It's free, no registration required, and your files never leave your device.
Convert PDF →Frequently Asked Questions
Can I extract text from a scanned PDF?
Scanned PDFs are images — they have no text layer. You need OCR software to extract text from scans. For digitally-created PDFs (not scans), extraction works instantly.
Does the extracted text preserve the layout?
Plain text (.txt) format cannot replicate multi-column or complex layouts. The text flows in reading order but without visual formatting. For formatted output, use PDF to Word instead.
Is there a page limit for text extraction?
No. You can extract text from PDFs of any page length. Larger documents may take a few seconds longer to process.