How to convert a PDF to a TXT file
Convert selectable PDF text to a free TXT download. Try a two-page example, check reading order and find the right OCR workflow for scanned pages.
Use PDF to Text to convert existing selectable words in a PDF into a plain text file. Processing runs on your device, with no account or document upload. A TXT file is useful for reviewing wording or copying text into an editor; it does not reproduce the PDF layout.
Check whether the PDF contains text
Try selecting a sentence in your PDF reader. If the page is only an image, extracting embedded text will not recognize its words. Use English OCR for a scanned PDF instead, then check recognition mistakes. A mixed document may contain both text pages and scanned pages, so check more than its cover.
Try the two-page example
Download our two-page synthetic source PDF. It contains fictional project text and one small embedded illustration. Open it in PDF to Text, choose Extract text and download the TXT result. The illustration is not converted into text.
- Choose a valid, unencrypted PDF within 50 MB. Keep the original.
- Select Extract text. This operation reads every input page; there is no page-range control here. To convert one section, extract those pages into a working PDF first.
- Download the result and open it in a text editor. The output uses UTF-8 plain text, with a page separator such as
--- Page 1 ---. - Check the first and last pages, numbers, punctuation and reading order against the original PDF.
In the example, the first page should include Project: Cedar and Status: Ready for review. The second should include the three checklist steps. Both source pages should have corresponding page separators in the TXT file. Compare the TXT output produced by the browser tool.
Understand columns, tables and fonts
A PDF stores positioned text rather than a word processor's paragraphs. Extracted columns or table cells can arrive in an unexpected sequence, with different spacing or line breaks. Some files have unusual font encodings or incomplete text layers. Review the saved text before using it for a report or another conversion.
This free PDF to text converter does not export DOCX, preserve table formatting or extract text inside an image. If you need the pictures themselves, extract embedded images; if you need the entire page appearance, choose PDF to JPG or PNG.
Why is the result empty or incomplete?
An image-only PDF can produce no selectable text. A mixed PDF can produce text for some pages while other pages contain only a separator. OCR may help with scanned English pages, but it must be checked separately. Encryption, damage or device memory limits can also prevent processing. Keep the source and try a short representative copy when diagnosing a problem.
Review before sharing
Names and confidential wording can remain in the TXT output. Extracting text is not redaction or anonymization. To compare wording across two text-based versions, use Compare PDF Text and still review the original pages.
Prepared by PDF Tools Club · Updated October 18, 2026. Instructions reflect this release’s controls and limits.