Extract and search text in a PDF

Unlike a bulk converter, this viewer shows the recovered text page by page so you can check it, search for words, copy a page or the whole document and see word counts.

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How to use Extract Text from PDF

Choose a PDF.
Browse pages or search for a term (matches are highlighted).
Copy the page or all text.
Use PDF to Text if you want a downloadable file.

Supported formats

Input: PDF (with selectable text)
Output: On-screen text, Clipboard

Search

Search is case-insensitive and counts matches per page so you can jump to relevant pages quickly.

Empty pages

Pages with no selectable text are marked – they probably need OCR.

Limitations

Reading order is inferred from positions.
Scanned pages need OCR first.

Privacy

Files you choose are read into your browser’s memory and processed on your device; they are not uploaded to a server. Temporary download links are released after use, and the offline cache never stores your documents. More about privacy and limits.

Frequently asked questions

How is it different from PDF to Text?

This tool is an interactive viewer; PDF to Text produces a downloadable .txt.

Why is the order odd on some pages?

Multi-column layouts can interleave columns because PDFs store positions, not reading order.