UTF-8 output
Extracted Unicode text is written to a standard UTF-8 TXT file.
PDF to TXT
Extract readable text from a text-based PDF into a simple UTF-8 file.
Choose a PDF
Drag and drop your document here, or browse files
One PDF · Up to 200 MB · Up to 2,000 pages · No daily limit · Unlimited use
Plain-text extraction
Get PDF text without the page design
Create a lightweight TXT file for editing, searching, indexing, summarization or other text-processing workflows.
Page-aware order
Text is processed in document order with page boundaries kept separated where practical.
Text-layer based
The converter reads selectable PDF text rather than performing automatic OCR on image-only pages.
Simple reusable output
TXT removes PDF fonts and graphics so the text can be used in other tools easily.
How to extract text from a PDF
Upload a text-based PDF, run extraction and download the TXT file.
Upload your PDF
Choose one PDF up to 200 MB and 2,000 pages.
Extract selectable text
PDFPA reads the document text layer in page order.
Download UTF-8 TXT
Save the plain-text result for editing, searching or further processing.
Temporary processing with automatic cleanup
Your file is processed temporarily to create the requested result. Normal completed results remain available for up to 10 minutes and are then removed automatically.
Short result window
Uploaded and generated files are temporary processing files rather than documents stored in a permanent public library.
Delete when finished
Use Delete result on the completion screen if you want to request removal before automatic cleanup.
Online file conversion
Extract PDF text for editing, search and AI-friendly workflows
PDF is a visual page format. TXT removes that presentation layer and gives you the underlying words in a lightweight form. PDF to TXT is useful when you care about the text itself rather than fonts, images, page graphics or exact positioning.
Use plain text when structure and styling are not required
A TXT export can be easier to search, paste into another application, analyze with scripts, index for retrieval or use as input for text-processing and AI workflows. PDFPA writes the extracted content as UTF-8, which is suitable for Unicode text when the source PDF has a usable Unicode text layer.
Plain text cannot reproduce columns, font sizes, charts, images or exact PDF layout. Page boundaries and reading order are kept as practical, but the output is intentionally simpler. If you need editable document formatting, PDF to Word may be more suitable; if you want semantic headings and tables, PDF to Markdown may be a better fit.
Understand the difference between text PDFs and scanned PDFs
A text-based PDF contains characters that can be selected or copied. A scanned PDF can contain only photographs of pages. Without OCR, an image-only page does not provide reliable text for extraction, so this tool should not be presented as an automatic OCR service.
PDF to TXT currently has no daily conversion quota and requires no public account or subscription. Each job supports one PDF up to 200 MB and 2,000 pages. Results are temporary and automatically cleaned after the short download window.
Conversion help
PDF to TXT FAQ
Common questions about selectable text, Unicode, scanned PDFs and plain-text output.