Is it safe to extract text from a PDF online?

Yes — and ours is safer than most. Many free online tools quietly upload your files to their servers to do the work. We don't. Everything happens inside your browser on your own device, so your files never reach the internet. There's no upload step, no server copy, and no way for us (or anyone else) to see what you're working on.

Are my files uploaded to a server?

No. There's no server-side processing here. The whole tool is a tiny app that runs in your browser — we don't even have a server that could receive your files. You can confirm this by opening your browser's network tab while you use the tool: nothing leaves your device.

Do I need to sign up or pay?

No. There's no account, no email collection, no credit card. The tool is free to use as much as you want, on as many files as you want. We're supported by a few unobtrusive ads on the page — not by your data.

Will it work on scanned PDFs?

Only if the scan has been OCR'd. Pure image scans return no text — the OCR tool is on the roadmap.

Why is my output empty?

Some PDFs encode text as glyph indices without character maps. These can't be reverse-mapped to readable text.

What's in the JSON output?

Per-page raw text, an array of word-level blocks (text + bbox + font), and any AcroForm fields with their values.

Extract Text from PDF

Extract every line of text from a PDF — plus form-field values, fonts, and bounding boxes. Output as plain text, Markdown (with page headings), or JSON for downstream processing.

Features

Three formats: plain text, Markdown, structured JSON
JSON includes per-word bounding boxes, font, size
Captures AcroForm widget names, types, and values
Page-level breakdown
Live preview before download

How to extract text from pdf

Drop the PDF — Drag a text-based PDF (not a pure scan).
Pick format — Plain text for paste-into-doc; JSON if you'll feed it to another tool.
Extract — Download the text file with a preview shown in the panel.

Frequently asked questions

Is it safe to extract text from a PDF online?: Yes — and ours is safer than most. Many free online tools quietly upload your files to their servers to do the work. We don't. Everything happens inside your browser on your own device, so your files never reach the internet. There's no upload step, no server copy, and no way for us (or anyone else) to see what you're working on.
Are my files uploaded to a server?: No. There's no server-side processing here. The whole tool is a tiny app that runs in your browser — we don't even have a server that could receive your files. You can confirm this by opening your browser's network tab while you use the tool: nothing leaves your device.
Do I need to sign up or pay?: No. There's no account, no email collection, no credit card. The tool is free to use as much as you want, on as many files as you want. We're supported by a few unobtrusive ads on the page — not by your data.
Will it work on scanned PDFs?: Only if the scan has been OCR'd. Pure image scans return no text — the OCR tool is on the roadmap.
Why is my output empty?: Some PDFs encode text as glyph indices without character maps. These can't be reverse-mapped to readable text.
What's in the JSON output?: Per-page raw text, an array of word-level blocks (text + bbox + font), and any AcroForm fields with their values.