PDF to TXT
Need the text from a PDF — without the formatting, layout, or structure? Extracting to plain text gives you raw, copyable, searchable content for analysis, processing, or repurposing. FluidConvert converts PDF to TXT free in your browser.
Drop your file here, or browse
Accepts: application/pdf, .pdf · Max 100MB (free)
Your files are encrypted with TLS and automatically deleted after conversion.
Simply upload your .PDF file and we'll convert it to .TXT format — fast, free, and secure.
Fast & Free
Convert files up to 100MB at no cost. No account needed.
Secure
Files are encrypted and automatically deleted after conversion.
High Quality
Industry-leading conversion with no quality loss.
How to Convert PDF to TXT
Upload Your File
Click the upload area above or drag and drop your .PDF file. We support files up to 100MB on the free plan.
Choose Output Format
Select .TXT as your target format. Adjust any conversion settings if needed.
Download Your File
Click Convert Now and wait a few seconds. Once complete, download your converted file instantly.
About PDF to TXT
What is PDF text extraction?
PDFs store text as positioned character strings with font and coordinate data. Text extraction reads these character streams and outputs them as flowing plain text, discarding visual layout information. For text-based PDFs (created digitally from Word, InDesign, or similar tools), extraction is highly accurate. For scanned PDFs (pages are images), OCR (Optical Character Recognition) is required to identify and extract text from the image pixels.
Why convert to TXT?
Plain text is the most portable and processable format for content. Convert PDF to TXT when you need to import text into another application, run natural language processing or analysis on document content, search across large document collections, feed content into a CMS or database, or simply copy and work with text without dealing with PDF's formatting lock.
What to expect from the conversion
The TXT output contains the textual content of the PDF stripped of all visual formatting — no fonts, no columns, no tables, no images. Reading order follows the PDF's text stream, which usually matches top-to-bottom page order but may differ in multi-column layouts. Tables in the PDF become tab-separated or space-aligned text. Headers and footers may appear inline. The TXT file is in UTF-8 encoding.
How FluidConvert handles it
We parse the PDF's content streams, extract text in logical reading order, and output a clean UTF-8 TXT file. For scanned PDFs, OCR is applied using a trained recognition model to identify text from page images.
Common reasons to convert PDF to TXT
- Extracting document text for input into an AI summarization or analysis pipeline
- Converting a PDF ebook or report to TXT for importing into an e-reader app or text editor
- Extracting contract or legal document text for keyword searching and compliance review
- Converting PDF articles or research papers to TXT for bulk text processing or indexing
Frequently Asked Questions
Does PDF to TXT preserve formatting like bold and italic text?
No. TXT is plain text — it has no formatting capabilities. Bold, italic, headings, font sizes, and colors all disappear. Only the raw text content is preserved. If you need to preserve some formatting, convert to DOCX or RTF instead.
Will tables in the PDF convert correctly to text?
Tables are challenging for text extraction because TXT has no cell structure. Column alignment is approximated using spaces or tabs. For accurate table extraction, PDF to Excel (XLSX) conversion is better suited than PDF to TXT.
Can I extract text from a password-protected PDF?
If the PDF requires a password to open, you must provide that password for conversion. PDFs with only copy-restriction permissions (but no open password) can typically be extracted since the text data is present in the file.