Convert PDF to Text (TXT)
Convert PDF to text online: clean paragraphs, original line breaks or kept layout, columns in reading order and OCR for scans. Free, no upload, no watermark.
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- No watermark
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How to convert PDF to Text
Upload one or more PDF files. Password-protected files are fine if you know the password.
Choose Plain text, Line by line or Keep layout, the pages you need (for a single file) and whether scanned pages should be read with OCR.
Preview the text, switch styles instantly, then copy it or download the TXT file.
Text you can actually use, not a jumble of words
Correct reading order
Lines are rebuilt from the position of every word, and two- or three-column pages are read column by column, so sentences from neighbouring columns are not mixed together. Words split by a hyphen at the end of a line are joined again.
Three text styles, instant preview
Plain text gives clean paragraphs for editing, search or AI tools. Line by line keeps the line breaks of the PDF. Keep layout spaces the text so tables and forms stay aligned. Switch between them in the preview without converting again.
Scanned pages included
Pages without a text layer are detected automatically and read with OCR in 35+ languages, while pages with real text are extracted directly. Use OCR on every page when copied text comes out garbled.
Private and free
Everything runs in your browser: your PDFs are never uploaded. Convert several files at once, pick a page range for a single file, remove repeating headers and page numbers, and download TXT files or a ZIP. No account and no watermark.
PDF to text conversion that keeps sentences in order
A PDF stores text as separate pieces placed at exact positions on the page, not as paragraphs. That is why copying from a PDF often gives broken lines, words from two columns mixed together, or stray page numbers in the middle of a sentence. BestConverter rebuilds the text from those positions: it groups words into lines, finds columns, joins paragraphs and undoes end-of-line hyphenation, all in your browser. Pages printed sideways, such as landscape tables, are turned so their lines read normally, and text drawn twice to look bold is kept only once.
Pick the output that fits your job
- Plain text: flowing paragraphs, ideal for editing in Word or Google Docs, translation, search indexes and AI assistants.
- Line by line: the same line breaks as the PDF, handy for poems, code listings, addresses and subtitles.
- Keep layout: words keep their horizontal position, so bank statements, invoices and tables stay aligned in a monospaced font.
Useful options
- Convert only some pages of a file, for example 1-3, 10-.
- Add page separators such as "--- Page 3 ---" to know where each page starts.
- Remove running headers, footers and page numbers that repeat on most pages.
- Read scanned pages with OCR, automatically or on every page.
- Choose Windows (CRLF) line endings or a UTF-8 BOM for older programs.
Before you download
The result window shows the page, word and character count, plus the OCR confidence for scanned pages. You can fix a few words directly in the preview, then copy everything, download a .txt file, get a ZIP when you converted several PDFs, or save the file to My documents.
Limits to know: handwriting and very low-quality scans are not read reliably, right-to-left scripts may come out in visual order, and pages where text was converted to drawn shapes contain no text until you run OCR on them.
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Frequently asked questions
How do I convert a PDF to a text file?
Upload the PDF, keep the recommended Plain text style and click Extract text. The text appears in a preview where you can check it, edit it, copy it to the clipboard or download it as a .txt file encoded in UTF-8.
What is the difference between Plain text and Keep layout?
Plain text joins the lines of each paragraph so the text reflows in any editor, which is best for reading, editing and pasting into other apps. Keep layout uses spaces to place each word roughly where it is on the page, which keeps tables, invoices and forms readable in a monospaced font. Line by line sits in between and keeps the original line breaks.
Can I convert a scanned PDF to text?
Yes. With OCR set to Auto, pages that have no selectable text but contain an image are read with the Tesseract OCR engine on your device. Choose the language of the document for best results. The language data (a few MB) downloads once the first time and is then cached.
Why does the converted text look garbled?
Some PDFs use fonts without a proper character map, so the text layer contains wrong characters even though the page looks fine. Set Scanned pages (OCR) to "Every page" and the text will be read from the page image instead.
Does PDF to text keep tables and columns?
Multi-column articles are read one column after another. In Plain text and Line by line, table rows stay on their own lines with cells separated by tabs, so they paste neatly into a spreadsheet. For a visual copy of a table, use Keep layout.
Is it safe to convert a confidential PDF to TXT here?
Yes. The PDF is opened and converted by your browser on your own device, and the text never leaves it unless you save it. That also means a very large document is limited by your device memory; use the Pages field to convert it in parts.