Does it work on scanned PDFs?

Scanned PDFs contain images rather than text, so this will return an empty or near-empty file for them. Run OCR PDF first to add a text layer, then extract the text.

What does 'Mark page breaks' do?

When on, each page's text is preceded by a "--- Page N ---" line, so you can tell where one page ends and the next begins. Turn it off for a clean, continuous text file with no markers.

Does it preserve formatting like bold or tables?

No — this extracts plain text only, exactly like copy-pasting from a PDF viewer. Layout, fonts, and styling are not preserved. For an editable document with formatting, use PDF to Word instead.

Is there a page limit?

SmilingPDF imposes no page limit. The work runs on your device, so very long PDFs are limited only by your device's memory.

Is my PDF uploaded to a server?

No. Text extraction happens entirely in your browser. Your file is never uploaded.

Convert PDF to Text Online

Extract the text from a PDF and download it as a plain .txt file.

Drag & drop a PDF file here

or browse

Mark page breaks (adds a “--- Page N ---” line between pages)

PDF to Text extracts the text from every page of a PDF and gives it to you as a single plain .txt file — the same result as copy-pasting from a PDF viewer, without the selecting. It is plain text only: layout, fonts and styling are not kept, so for an editable document use PDF to Word. Scanned PDFs hold images rather than text, so run OCR first.

What you can do

All pages extracted into one .txt file.
Optional Mark page breaks adds a --- Page N --- line between pages; turn it off for continuous text.
Plain text with no formatting to clean up.
No server-imposed page limit.

How it works

1Drop your PDF onto the page.
2Choose whether to use Mark page breaks.
3Click Process File.
4Click Download to save the .txt file.

Why use SmilingPDF for this

Quicker than copying page by page from a viewer.
Clear about scans: they need OCR before there is any text to extract.
Extraction happens in your browser, so the PDF is never uploaded.

Private by design

Your file stays on your device.

No upload
No server storage
No account required
Browser-based processing
No watermark

This tool runs inside your browser tab. Your file is read from your device, processed there, and handed back as a download — it is never sent to a SmilingPDF server, so there is nothing for us to store, read, or lose. You can check for yourself: open your browser's developer tools, switch to the Network tab and run the tool. Like most sites, SmilingPDF uses Google Analytics to count visits and which tools are used; that never includes the contents of your files. The privacy policy lists everything the site does collect.