PDF to Text
Last updated: May 18, 2026OCRExtract text from PDFs, including scans.
PDF to Text is a free online tool to extract text from PDFs, including scans. It runs entirely in your browser, so your files never leave your device — nothing is uploaded. There's no sign-up, no watermark, and it works on any modern browser on desktop or mobile.
How to use PDF to Text
PDF to Text extracts selectable, copyable text from any PDF, including scanned and image-only documents. Built-in OCR reads pages that have no embedded text so you can pull out the words anyway. All processing is local, meaning your PDF is processed in your browser and never uploaded, ideal for confidential files.
Read the full guide: How to Extract Text From a PDF Free (OCR, No Upload)
- 1Upload your PDF by dragging it in or selecting it from your device.
- 2Let the tool extract the embedded text, or run OCR on scanned pages.
- 3Review the recognized text and copy or download it.
Built-in OCR
Reads text from scanned or image-only PDFs that have no selectable text inside them.
Copy or download
Grab the extracted text instantly to paste elsewhere or save it as a plain text file.
Local and private
Both extraction and OCR run in your browser, so your PDF is never uploaded to any server.
Copy text from a scanned PDF
Got a PDF that was scanned or photographed, where you can't select or highlight a single word? Drop it in and the tool detects the missing text layer, then runs OCR on each page image to recognize the characters. You get real, selectable text back from an otherwise locked image, ready to copy or save as a .txt file.
Pull quotes from a research paper
Need to lift exact passages, statistics, or references out of an academic PDF for a literature review or citation? Extraction reads the embedded text layer page by page, so figures, footnotes, and wording come through verbatim. Paste a clean quote straight into your notes or paper without retyping, and pipe the result into the word counter for length checks.
Extract text to feed an AI
Want to summarize a long PDF or ask ChatGPT questions about it, but the file won't paste? Grab the full document text here first, copy it from the editable box, and drop it into any chatbot prompt. Scanned reports get OCR'd into plain text too, so even image-only files become usable context for your AI tool.
PDF to Text — frequently asked questions
Can it read text from a scanned PDF?
Yes. When a PDF has no embedded text, built-in OCR recognizes the characters from the page images so you can still extract the words. Clear scans give the best accuracy.
Is OCR as accurate as native text extraction?
Native extraction is exact because it reads the real text layer. OCR is highly accurate on clean scans but can miss characters on blurry, skewed or low-resolution pages.
Is my document private during OCR?
Yes. Everything is processed in your browser and never uploaded, so scanned contracts, IDs and other sensitive PDFs stay on your device.
Share this tool
Send it to someone who needs it or save the link for later.