1. PDFHeron
  2. Tools
  3. PDF to text

Extract text from a PDF

Pull all the text out of a PDF into a plain text file you can search, paste into another app, or feed into a translation or analysis tool.

PDF to text now
  • No upload: 100% in your browser
  • No sign-up
  • Free to use
Drop your PDF here

PDF, JPG or PNG · processed on your device, never uploaded

How to pDF to text

It takes less than a minute with PDFHeron.

  1. Open the PDF

    Drop the document onto this page.

  2. Extract

    Choose “PDF to text” in the Convert & export panel.

  3. Download

    Get a .txt file with the text of every page, clearly separated.

Includes your edits

Text you added or changed in the editor is extracted too, and text you deleted is left out, so the output matches what the PDF says now.

Scanned PDFs

A scanned page is a picture of text, not text itself, so there is nothing to extract. If a file contains only scans, PDFHeron tells you instead of producing an empty file.

Why use PDFHeron to pDF to text?

Private by design

PDFHeron processes files on your device. No uploads, no cloud copies, no one else ever sees your documents.

Real editing

Change existing text and delete content from the file itself, not just paint boxes on top of it.

Instant & offline-ready

No queues or upload waits. Big documents open in seconds, and editing keeps working without a connection.

True redaction

Redacted areas are permanently removed from saved PDFs, so hidden text can’t be copied back out.

Standard PDF output

Saved files are regular PDFs with selectable text that open in Acrobat, Preview, Chrome and every other reader.

Free, or $2 once

Use every tool for free. Remove the footer forever with a one-time Pro license, with no subscription.

PDF to text: FAQ

Is formatting kept?

The output is plain text with line breaks. Fonts, colors and layout are not kept.

Does it work for scanned documents?

Only if the PDF already contains a text layer (some scanners add one with OCR). Pure image scans have no text to extract.

Which languages work?

Any language whose text is stored as real text in the PDF.

Related PDF tools

PDF to JPGTurn each page into a JPG image.Edit PDFChange existing text right on the page.Split PDFSplit by ranges, every N pages, or page by page.Compress PDFShrink PDFs for email and uploads.

Edit your PDF now. It’s free

No sign-up, no upload, no waiting. Open a file and start editing in seconds.

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