Why is my scan empty?

Scanned PDFs are images without an embedded text layer. Use OCR PDF to recognize text from those pages in your browser.

Is text sent to a server?

Not for this tool—extraction stays in your browser.

Files processed locally in your browser.

Extract Text

Pull embedded text from a PDF and export as .txt.

1Upload
2Configure
3Process
4Download

Works on PDFs with an embedded text layer. Scanned image-only PDFs need OCR PDF.

Drop a PDF to extract text

or click to browse · files over 20 MB may be slow on phones

People also use

Related workflows

Why In-Browser PDF Tools Are More Private Than Upload Sites
When you upload a PDF to a remote converter, you trust that server with whatever is inside. Local processing changes the risk model.

What this tool does

Extract Text reads text objects already embedded in the PDF (via pdf.js) and shows them in an editable area you can copy or download. It does not OCR scanned pages—use OCR PDF for image-only documents.

How to use it

Upload a PDF that has a selectable text layer (not a pure scan).
Extract to view the text.
Copy or download as .txt.

Common use cases

Grab quotes from a report
Feed text into notes or AI summarize (text-only payloads)
Quick accessibility check for selectable text

FAQs

Why is my scan empty?: Scanned PDFs are images without an embedded text layer. Use OCR PDF to recognize text from those pages in your browser.
Is text sent to a server?: Not for this tool—extraction stays in your browser.