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Extract the text from a PDF
Get the words out of a document as plain text, without the layout. Useful for quoting, searching, feeding into notes, or simply reading a badly-typeset PDF in something comfortable. If the document is a scan with no text layer, run OCR first and the recognized text comes out the same way.
Also searched as: PDF to TXT · extract text from PDF · copy text from PDF · get text out of PDF
How to extract the text from a PDF
On iPhone & iPad
- Open the document and tap PDF to Text.
- PDFlick pulls the text content out of the page stream.
- Review it, then save as a text file or copy it out.
On Mac
- Open the PDF and choose PDF to Text.
- Save the result with ⌘S, or copy it straight into another app.
What makes it different
- Text is read from the PDF's own content stream, so it is exact rather than recognized.
- Scanned pages contain no text stream — run OCR / Searchable first to create one.
- Output is plain text; use PDF to Word if you need the formatting preserved.
PDF to Text — questions
It returned nothing — what happened?
The document is almost certainly a scan, which is an image with no text layer. Run OCR / Searchable on it first, then extract.
Does it keep the formatting?
No, this outputs plain text. For paragraphs, headings and styling use PDF to Word instead.
Related PDF tools
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OCR / Searchable PDF
Make scanned PDFs searchable with on-device OCR on iPhone, iPad or Mac. Recognizes text through Apple Vision — nothing is uploaded.
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PDF to Word
Convert a PDF into an editable Word .docx on iPhone, iPad or Mac. Runs on device — your document is never uploaded to a conversion server.
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Edit PDF
Edit the real text inside a PDF on iPhone, iPad or Mac. PDFlick matches the original font, size and colour, and reflows the line in place. Works offline.