Does my PDF leave my device?

No. Each page is rendered and read in this browser. We do not upload the PDF for OCR and we do not store the file or the extracted text on a server. The first run may fetch a small page-rendering script to your device; that request does not include your document. Closing the tab clears the working copy.

Can I convert a multi-page PDF?

Yes. Pages are processed one after another so a long document does not freeze the tab. The status line names the current page. When several pages return text, each block is labeled so you can see which page it came from. A page that fails is skipped while the rest continue. A Stop button ends the run and keeps every line found so far.

Does this work on scanned PDFs or only digital ones?

Scanned pages, meaning images of paper, are the main case. A digital PDF is still drawn as pixels and then read, so you get a visual pass rather than a dump of an embedded text layer. That helps on flattened exports and slides with type burned into the artwork. Printed, high-contrast pages work best. Tiny footnotes and handwriting often come back incomplete.

Do I get a searchable PDF back?

Not yet, and we would rather be straight about it. What you get is the text itself, in an editable box you can copy or save as a .txt file. The tool does not write that text back into the PDF as an invisible layer. If you need the words, this works well. If you need the same document with a text layer added, you need a different kind of tool.

Yes, and it stays free. There is no account and no site quota on pages. Ads on the page cover hosting. How large a PDF you can finish depends on your device memory, because recognition runs locally.

Screenshot2Text

PDF to Text

To convert a PDF to text, drop the PDF here. Each page is read in your browser, and its text appears in the box below under a page header. We don't upload your file.

OCR runs in the browser. We don't upload your file for OCR.

Language

Drop a screenshot, image, or PDF here

PNG, JPG, WEBP, GIF, BMP, or PDF · several files at once · tap to browse

Or paste a screenshot with Ctrl+V or ⌘V

Selectable textNothing to copy yet

This works on scanned PDFs, where every page is really a picture of paper and there is no text to highlight. It also works on slides saved as PDF and other files with the words baked into the image. Each page is drawn in this tab, then read with open-source OCR. There is no account.

Pages are read one at a time, so a long file does not freeze the tab. The status line shows the page it is on. A page that fails is skipped and the rest continue, and Stop keeps every line found so far. How big a PDF you can finish depends on your device memory, not a site limit.

A digital PDF that already has a text layer is still read as pixels, so you get OCR, not an exact copy of the embedded text. You get plain text back, not a searchable PDF. Printed, high-contrast pages read best. Tiny footnotes, heavy compression, and handwriting often come back incomplete.

Or open the main free tool

A real two-page example

To show how multi-page output looks, we made a two-page PDF with no text layer, the same shape as a scanned document. Each page is an image of one test screenshot from our OCR accuracy test: para01-article on page 1 and para05-policy on page 2. We built it with img2pdf, and pdftotext finds no text in it. You can download the test PDF and try it yourself.

Page 1: a short article headed Why small libraries matter, about library services and a 12 percent budget loss between 2019 and 2025 — Page 1 of the test PDF.

Page 2: a refund policy explaining 30 day refunds, store credit, and refunds issued within 5 to 7 business days — Page 2 of the test PDF.

Page 1 text (under the page 1 header)

Why small libraries matter

Public libraries in small towns do far more than lend books. They offer
free internet access, tax help in the spring, and a quiet place to study
after school. In many counties, the library is the only public building
that stays open in the evening.
Funding has not kept pace. Between 2019 and 2025, the average branch lost
about 12 percent of its budget after inflation, according to a recent state
survey. Staff now cover more hours with fewer people.

Page 2 text (under the page 2 header)

Refund policy

You can request a full refund within 30 days of purchase. After 30 days, we
offer store credit for unused items in their original packaging. Sale items
and gift cards are final and cannot be returned. To start a return, signin
to your account, open your order history, and select the item you want to
send back. Refunds are issued to the original payment method within 5 to 7
business days after we receive the package.

In the box, each page starts with a header line that gives the file name and the page number, so page 1 and page 2 stay apart when you paste. The status line counts pages as File 1 of 2 and File 2 of 2 while it works.

Page 1 came back exactly as written. Page 2 has one mistake: sign in came back as signin. Both pages took 1.63 seconds together (median of three runs), about 0.81 seconds per page. The tool draws each PDF page at twice its size before reading, so small print gets more pixels to work with.

How we timed it: we ran the current site code (commit 968e282) as a local production build and drove it with headless Chromium 153 on an 8-core Linux machine, with the recognition model already loaded. The clock starts when the tool shows it is busy and stops when it shows it is done, the same way our accuracy test times each image.

FAQ

Does my PDF leave my device?: No. Each page is rendered and read in this browser. We do not upload the PDF for OCR and we do not store the file or the extracted text on a server. The first run may fetch a small page-rendering script to your device; that request does not include your document. Closing the tab clears the working copy.
Can I convert a multi-page PDF?: Yes. Pages are processed one after another so a long document does not freeze the tab. The status line names the current page. When several pages return text, each block is labeled so you can see which page it came from. A page that fails is skipped while the rest continue. A Stop button ends the run and keeps every line found so far.
Does this work on scanned PDFs or only digital ones?: Scanned pages, meaning images of paper, are the main case. A digital PDF is still drawn as pixels and then read, so you get a visual pass rather than a dump of an embedded text layer. That helps on flattened exports and slides with type burned into the artwork. Printed, high-contrast pages work best. Tiny footnotes and handwriting often come back incomplete.
Do I get a searchable PDF back?: Not yet, and we would rather be straight about it. What you get is the text itself, in an editable box you can copy or save as a .txt file. The tool does not write that text back into the PDF as an invisible layer. If you need the words, this works well. If you need the same document with a text layer added, you need a different kind of tool.
Is PDF to text free?: Yes, and it stays free. There is no account and no site quota on pages. Ads on the page cover hosting. How large a PDF you can finish depends on your device memory, because recognition runs locally.