How to Convert PDF to Text (The Words, Nothing Else)
The short answer
To convert a PDF to plain text, open it and copy-paste the text if it’s digital — or upload it to a converter that outputs a .txt file. Scanned PDFs need OCR first (see extracting text from PDFs). The output is pure text: no formatting, no images, no layout — which is exactly what you want for editing, quoting, or feeding into another tool.
The fastest way: copy and paste
- Open the PDF in any viewer.
- Select all text (Ctrl/Cmd+A), copy, paste into your text editor.
- Done — zero tools, works on every device.
This handles most digital PDFs. If selection is greyed out, the file has copy protection — that’s a permissions lock, removable if you know the password.
Convert PDF to text with a tool
When copy-paste is impractical — a 200-page manual, or text you want cleaned of headers and footers — use a converter: upload the PDF, download the .txt. Good ones strip page numbers and headers automatically, and some let you pick page ranges.
For text that keeps its structure (headings, lists), the PDF to Markdown converter is the better pick — Markdown is plain text with structure, and it converts cleanly to HTML, Word, or docs. If you literally need raw .txt, a plain converter is fine.
The honest part
What you lose converting to text:
- Everything visual. Tables flatten into running text, columns merge, images vanish. The text is all there, but reading it feels like reading a radio transcript of a movie.
- Scans need OCR. A scanned page has no text layer — converters can’t extract what isn’t there. Run OCR first, accept the errors on bad scans.
- Order can shift. Multi-column layouts extract in column order, not reading order, so a two-column newsletter comes out as column A then column B. Annoying but predictable.
Use case check: text files are for content — quoting, archiving, feeding into scripts or AI tools. If the goal is a readable document, keep the PDF or convert to a format that keeps structure.