PDF to text.
Extract selectable text from a PDF and download it as a plain text file. Choose the pages you need.
On your deviceNo sign-up neededFree to use
- 1Choose files
- 2Adjust & preview
- 3Download
or drop your file here
PDF files · Up to 50 MBProcessed on your device. Your document stays yours.
BEFORE YOU START
Can I extract text from a scanned PDF?
Folio’s PDF to Text tool extracts existing selectable text into a plain text file. Image-only scans need OCR, which this tool does not provide. For a text-based PDF, choose the pages you need and download the extracted words for free.
Compare local processing and cloud saving- Input
- A PDF containing selectable text.
- Output
- A plain text (.txt) file.
- Download cost
- All downloads and options are free. Sign in only to save files, invoices, or short links to your account.
- File handling
- This standalone tool processes document contents in your browser. Opening the result in the editor uploads it for private cloud saving.
- Limits to know
- Up to 50 MB per PDF. Fonts, images and page layout are not preserved. Reading order can differ in tables and multi-column documents.
THREE SIMPLE STEPS
PDF to text: step by step.
- 01
Choose a PDF containing selectable words and wait for its preview to load.
- 02
Enter the pages to extract. Limit each export to 200 pages; leave the field blank only when the whole document fits that limit.
- 03
Download the TXT file and compare names, numbers and reading order with the original before reusing the text.
A PRACTICAL EXAMPLE
Extract selectable text from only the PDF pages you need
Copy the summary and budget wording into your notes without carrying over fonts, images or page layout.
Try with a practice file
Original, fictional samples. Download a file, then select it in the tool above.
- Pages
- 2-3 in the practice packet
- Action
- Extract text
- Output
- A plain text file
Check the result
Open the TXT file and look for the summary and the budget figures. Review the reading order before reusing a table or a multi-column passage.
Compare a worked result
Folio-generated fictional examples. These checks apply to the supplied files and settings.
- Summary and Budget text reference
Summary and Budget wording only; Reference extraction; no fonts, page layout, or OCR.
An image-only scan can produce no useful text. OCR is not included, and this tool does not reconstruct an Excel spreadsheet.
A FEW HELPFUL DETAILSKnow your document.
Know your document.
Get a better result.
The export contains the existing PDF text, with page separators and basic line breaks. It is useful for notes, searching or moving wording into another editor. It does not reconstruct a document’s columns or a spreadsheet’s cells, so table values can appear in a different order from the page. Image-only scans have no selectable words to extract; Folio does not include OCR.
Why is there no selectable text?
A scan or photograph can look like text while containing only pixels. Lettering can also be drawn as shapes. This tool reads an existing text layer and does not recognize words from images.
Why are columns or table values in the wrong order?
PDFs store text for page display, which does not always match sentence or row order. Check the TXT output against the source. Use a table-specific conversion workflow if you need reliable spreadsheet rows and columns.
Will formatting be preserved?
The TXT file contains words, page separators and basic line breaks. It does not contain fonts, images, clickable links or the original page layout.
Get more from PDF to text.
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