Convert PDF to text
Get the words out of a PDF so you can quote them, search them, or paste them into another app. You see a preview before you download.
or drop it here
Files never leave your device · Free, no sign-up · No watermark
How to convert PDF to text
- Choose or drop the PDF.
- Turn on page markers if you want a line between pages, and check the preview.
- Select Extract text to download a .txt file.
What you get
The text layer of every page, in a UTF-8 .txt file that opens in any editor and supports every language. Text only: layout, tables and columns are not reproduced exactly, so some lines may run together or appear in a different order.
Scanned PDFs
A scanned document is usually just pictures of pages, with no text inside. Scissor PDF does not do OCR (text recognition), so the result for such a file is empty. If you can select text in your PDF reader, it can be extracted here.
Questions about PDF to Text
Are my files uploaded when I convert PDF to text?
No. Scissor PDF runs a PDF engine written in Rust and compiled to WebAssembly inside your browser tab. Your files are read from your disk into the page's memory, processed there and saved back to your device. The site has no upload endpoint, and its Content Security Policy blocks the page from sending data to any other server.
Why is my text file empty?
The PDF most likely contains only images, for example a scan. There is no text layer to extract, and Scissor PDF does not perform OCR.
Are tables kept?
Not exactly. The words are extracted, but rows, columns and spacing may not line up the way they did on the page.
What are page markers?
An optional line between pages, so you can tell where each page begins in the text file.
Is it free? Do I need an account?
It is free, with no account, no daily task limit and no watermark added to your documents. Because the work happens on your own computer, there is no server cost per file for us to recover.