Does this extract the text or just take a screenshot?

It extracts the actual text content of the PDF as editable, searchable plain text — not an image. You can copy, search, edit and process it in any text editor or script.

Does it work with scanned PDFs?

It works best on PDFs that already contain a text layer, such as files exported from Word or a browser. A scanned PDF is just an image of text, so little or no text may be extracted without OCR.

Will formatting, tables and images be kept?

No. TXT is plain text only, so layout, fonts, colours, tables and images are dropped and only the words and numbers remain. Use PDF to Word if you need to keep the formatting and structure of the document.

Are non-Latin languages and symbols preserved?

Yes. The output is UTF-8, so accents, Cyrillic, Greek, Arabic and CJK characters survive as long as the PDF has a proper text layer rather than scanned images.

How is text from multi-column pages ordered?

The text follows the reading order stored inside the PDF. Cleanly built documents extract in the right order; heavily designed or multi-column pages may interleave, since plain text has no columns.

Does the .txt keep line and paragraph breaks?

Line and paragraph breaks from the PDF are kept as best as possible, so the text stays readable, though exact spacing between blocks and page boundaries can differ from the original page.

What is TXT extraction good for?

It is ideal for full-text search, feeding content into scripts, spreadsheets or an AI model, counting words, quoting passages, or pulling raw data out of a report without the overhead of the PDF format.

Convert PDF to TXT Online

Extract all text from a PDF as a plain .txt file for editing, searching or data processing.

or drag & drop them here · images, video, audio and documents · up to 2 GB

How to convert PDF to TXT

Click "Choose Files" and select your PDF file, or drag & drop it onto the page.
Make sure TXT is selected as the target format.
Click "Convert" and wait a few seconds.
Download your new TXT file.

Why Converters.live?

Free and unlimited — convert as many PDF documents to TXT as you need.
Files up to 2 GB, with layout, fonts and formatting preserved when converting PDF to TXT.
Your documents are deleted from the server immediately after conversion — nothing is stored.

Frequently asked questions

Does this extract the text or just take a screenshot?: It extracts the actual text content of the PDF as editable, searchable plain text — not an image. You can copy, search, edit and process it in any text editor or script.
Does it work with scanned PDFs?: It works best on PDFs that already contain a text layer, such as files exported from Word or a browser. A scanned PDF is just an image of text, so little or no text may be extracted without OCR.
Will formatting, tables and images be kept?: No. TXT is plain text only, so layout, fonts, colours, tables and images are dropped and only the words and numbers remain. Use PDF to Word if you need to keep the formatting and structure of the document.
Are non-Latin languages and symbols preserved?: Yes. The output is UTF-8, so accents, Cyrillic, Greek, Arabic and CJK characters survive as long as the PDF has a proper text layer rather than scanned images.
How is text from multi-column pages ordered?: The text follows the reading order stored inside the PDF. Cleanly built documents extract in the right order; heavily designed or multi-column pages may interleave, since plain text has no columns.
Does the .txt keep line and paragraph breaks?: Line and paragraph breaks from the PDF are kept as best as possible, so the text stays readable, though exact spacing between blocks and page boundaries can differ from the original page.
What is TXT extraction good for?: It is ideal for full-text search, feeding content into scripts, spreadsheets or an AI model, counting words, quoting passages, or pulling raw data out of a report without the overhead of the PDF format.

About PDF and TXT

Key things to know before you convert PDF to TXT:

PDF

PDF is the universal document format: it locks in the exact layout on every device and prints identically everywhere. Turning an image into a PDF makes it easy to share, archive or print as a document rather than a raw photo.

TXT

TXT is the simplest file format — plain text with no formatting, no fonts, no metadata. Opens on every device and in every program. Perfect for extracting readable content from documents.

Related conversions

PDF→JPG PDF→PNG PDF→WEBP PDF→BMP PDF→TIFF PDF→GIF PDF→DOCX DOCX→TXT