PDF Text Extractor
LocalPDF text extractor that runs in your browser — free, no upload. Pull the text layer page by page, keep line breaks, then copy or download it as TXT.
100% local — your files never leave this device. No upload, no account.
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Supports PDF
Choose fileWhat is it? PDF Text Extractor extracts all text from a PDF page by page, locally in the browser. Scanned files are flagged with an OCR pointer, and mixed PDFs disclose how many pages have no text layer instead of silently leaving them empty.
TL;DR: Extract all text from a PDF, page by page, in your browser — nothing uploaded. Line breaks are kept, pages/characters/lines are counted, and mixed scanned pages are disclosed instead of silently skipped; copy or download the result as TXT.
How to use
- Open a PDF (drop it in; nothing is uploaded).
- Click "Extract text" — progress shows page by page.
- Review the extracted text, then copy or download it.
FAQ
Why is the text empty?
The PDF may be a scan without a text layer — the page says so and points to PDF OCR. Mixed PDFs disclose how many pages have no text layer (those sections are empty in the output).
Is it local?
Yes.
Is there a file size limit?
Yes — anonymous use has a per-file size cap (the exact value is shown in the tool area, and it is higher when signed in). Extraction itself always runs locally in your browser.
Does it keep the original page layout?
Text is extracted page by page with line breaks preserved, but complex layouts may affect reading order — the output is plain text, not a layout-faithful copy.
Does this use OCR?
No — it reads the text layer that is already embedded in the PDF (parsed with pdf.js), so there is nothing to recognize from images, no language pack to pick and no OCR errors. Scanned or image-only pages have no text layer: the run says so and points to PDF OCR, and mixed files disclose exactly how many pages came out empty.
Can I copy the text without line breaks?
The output keeps the PDF's own line structure, so text from a fixed-layout page can break mid-sentence — that is what 'preserve line breaks' means here. Join the lines in your editor (or pipe the .txt through a one-line cleanup) when you need continuous prose; the line count in the stats helps you size that cleanup.
Can I extract text from only some pages?
Not yet — every page is extracted and the stats line shows the page, character and line counts. For a subset, split the PDF first (Split PDF) and extract each part, or delete the unwanted sections after copying out.
Does it work with Chinese, Japanese or other non-Latin fonts?
Yes — embedded CID and standard CJK fonts are resolved by pdf.js, so Chinese and Japanese text comes out as real characters, not images. A scanned CJK document is still images: run it through PDF OCR (which ships Chinese/Japanese/Korean language packs) first.
Examples
- Drop in a PDF → click Extract text → copy or download
Supported formats
Limitations
- Scanned PDFs need OCR first (full-text-empty input gets an explicit OCR pointer).
- Mixed PDFs (some pages scanned/image-only) are disclosed with a counted notice — those pages are empty in the output.
- Anonymous uploads have a per-file size cap (the exact value is shown in the tool area; higher when signed in). Extraction runs entirely in your browser.
- Complex layouts may affect reading order.
Privacy
Privacy first: this tool runs entirely in your browser — your input and files never leave your device, and everything is cleared when you close the page.