Selecting text in a PDF and pasting it elsewhere is hit and miss. Lines break in the wrong places, columns get mixed and sometimes you can't select anything at all. Extracting the text of the whole document first makes it easier to clean up.
How to extract text
- Open Extract Text.
- Upload your PDF (up to 50 MB).
- The text appears on screen. Use Copy to paste it somewhere else, or Download to save it as a text file.
Does your PDF contain text?
Some PDFs have a real text layer, and some are just pictures of pages.
- Test: open the file and try to select a word, or press Ctrl+F and search for a word you can see.
- If you can select and search, extraction will work.
- If you can't, it is a scan. Run OCR PDF first, then extract. Our OCR guide explains how to get accurate results.
If the tool returns nothing, this is almost always the reason.
What to expect from the output
Extraction pulls the words, not the design. You will get the text in reading order as the PDF stores it, without fonts, colours or images.
- Columns may be read in an unexpected order, so check newspaper-style layouts.
- Tables turn into rows of text. For tables you'd rather keep as cells, use PDF to Excel.
- Headers, footers and page numbers appear in the text on every page.
- Hyphenated words at line ends may stay broken.
Clean it up quickly
- Paste into a plain text editor or a document.
- Use Find and Replace to remove repeated headers and page numbers.
- Fix line breaks in the middle of sentences. In Word, replace paragraph marks with a space, then restore the ones you want.
- Proofread numbers and names against the PDF.
Other ways to get text out
- Need editable formatting? Convert to Word with PDF to Word, and read how to keep formatting.
- Want a translation? Translate PDF works from the extracted text.
- Only need a few pages? Use Extract Pages first so the output is smaller.
Example: turning a report into notes
Extract the text, paste it into a document and delete the repeated header and page numbers with Find and Replace. Break it into sections by adding your own headings, then read it against the PDF once to catch anything that came out in the wrong order. For a long report, extract only the chapters you need so the text stays manageable.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the extracted text empty?
The PDF is probably a scan or contains only images. Run OCR first.
Will it extract text from images inside a PDF?
No. Text in pictures needs OCR.
Is the text formatted like the original?
No. It is plain text.
Can I extract text from a password-protected PDF?
Remove the password first with Unlock PDF, if you have the right to.