Convert PDF to TXT Online

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Get Total PDF Converter to convert your files in batches safely.

Total PDF Converter To Convert PDF files

Convert PDF Files in Batch!;
Convert PDF to TXT and in many other formats
Convert thousands of files in 3 clicks;
Have a desktop converter that works without Internet;
No need to send your files to the web;
Get more accurate output with the more poweful engine.

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Total PDF Converter

Total PDF Converter supports PDF, PS, EPS, PRN, XPS, OXPS files. It's not a simple PRN converter, it's the all-in-one solution. New formats are constantly being added.

Tell Total PDF Converter if you want to omit images from the source files. You can also get the new file with images only without text if you like.

Convert PDF to PDF/A in batch. Update thousands of files in one process.

Total PDF Converter can act as a PDF splitting utility and extract selected pages from a multi-page PDF. It can also split PDF by bookmarks or by blank pages.

Total PDF Converter will change the date of the file or keep the original time stamps. Just check the appropriate checkbox.

Sign PDF documents with your digital signature during the file conversion process.

Combine several PDF files into one multi-page document with out powerful batch PDF converter.

Total PDF Converter can automatically rotate your documents.

PDF to Word converter supports both Doc and DOCX for your convenience.

Convert PDF to JPG? Customize the final image to your needs. Set the desired quality of the JPEG image to compromize the file size. The app also extracts selected pages and converts them to JPEG.

Convert PDF/PS/EPS/PRN files via our clear interface with lots of hints for beginners.

The widest list of output file types: DOC, DOCX, RTF, XLS, HTML, BMP, JPEG, GIF, WMF, EMF, PNG, EPS, PS, TIFF, TXT, CSV, PDF/A and PDF!

Total PDF Converter can combine several PDF files into one TIFF image. Or place every page of a multi-page PDF into a new TIFF files.

Tune the output: set new margins in inches to your standards (ready for printing).

Each PDF file is displayed in Preview panel. You can zoom it in/out or view the document full-sized. Preview option makes it easy to find the necessary PDF file.

Add text or image watermarks to the header or the footer of the output file. It's perfect for stamping bates too!

Want more order? Add pagination (sequential numbering of folders is available).

Total PDF Converter can extract odd or even pages for you.

Unlike free PDF converters, our app processes thousands of documents keeping the folder stucture.

No matter what MS Office you have, our app can convert PDF to DOC and DocX.

We also offer PDF Converter SDK for Web\SQL server\ASP\.NET\C#. With ActiveX you can easily implement our PDF converter into your application and redistribute it to the end users.

Total PDF Converter has full command line support (get the ready-to-use command line from GUI).

How to convert PDF to TXT?

💾 Upload Your File: Go to the site, click on «Upload File,» and select your PDF file.

✍️ Set Conversion Options: Choose TXT as the output format and adjust any additional options if needed.

Convert and Download: Click 👉«Download Converted File»👈 to get your TXT file.

Cloud Based

There is no need to install any software to convert PDF to TXT with CoolUtils. Simply access the internet, and you can easily convert your file online with our service.

Secure

Our hardware operates in top-tier, highly secure data centers equipped with advanced electronic surveillance and multi-factor access control systems.

Ease of Use

Converting PDF to plain text online has never been so simple. Drop your .pdf and the converter extracts the full text — preserving UTF-8 encoding, paragraph breaks, and multi-column reading order — and delivers a clean .txt file in seconds. Works with regular PDFs, password-free protected documents, and scanned PDFs via built-in OCR. No Adobe Acrobat, no Python scripts required.

Privacy

We understand the importance of privacy, which is why we've developed a comprehensive privacy policy detailing how we handle your files and personal information. You can read the policy here.

PDF File

File extension	.PDF
Category	Document File
Description	Adobe Systems Portable Document Format (PDF) format provides all the contents of a printed document in electronic form, including text and images, as well as technical details like links, scales, graphs, and interactive content. You can open this file in free Acrobat Reader and scroll through the page or the entire document, which is generally one or more pages. The PDF format is used to save pre-designed periodicals, brochures, and flyers.
Associated programs	Adobe Viewer Ghostscript Ghostview Xpdf CoolUtils PDF Viewer
Developed by	Adobe Systems
MIME type	application/pdf application/x-pdf
Useful links	More detailed information on PDF files
Conversion type	PDF to TXT

TXT File

File extension	.TXT, .TEXT
Category	Document File
Description	TXT format is the simplest text file standard that doesn’t support formatting. Such file contains text characters, tab and line feed characters. Being outdated in functionality it has one major advantage - compact file size, comfortable for sharing, data export/import. It supports various charsets (DOS, WIN, ISO, KOI-8). The charset can be changed to make TXT file compatible with any text reader. The lack of formatting is solved by setting up format params in the reader program.
Associated programs	Notepad TextEdit WordPad
Developed by	Various
MIME type
Useful links

2024-12-28

I appreciate the speed and quality of the conversions. Brilliant!

Sophia Martinez

2024-08-22

Fine and fast.

Javier Almeida

Rating PDF to TXT

4.9 (2181 votes)Rate It

PDF to TXT Converter — Frequently Asked Questions ▼

How do I convert a PDF to TXT?

Upload your PDF to the converter, wait a few seconds for processing, then click Download to get your .txt file. The converter extracts all text from the document — paragraphs, headings, table cells — and saves it as UTF-8 plain text.

Does the converter work with scanned PDFs?

Yes. The converter includes OCR (optical character recognition) that reads image-based pages and turns them into selectable, searchable text. Accuracy is highest on clean, high-resolution scans at 300 DPI or above.

What encoding is the output TXT file?

Output is UTF-8 without BOM by default, which is compatible with Notepad, VS Code, Python, and virtually every text-processing tool. Non-Latin characters — Cyrillic, Arabic, CJK, Hebrew — are preserved correctly.

Will the layout and formatting be preserved?

PDF to TXT strips most visual formatting (fonts, colors, images) because plain text has no equivalent. Paragraph breaks and reading order are preserved. For a file that keeps tables as aligned columns, try PDF to CSV or PDF to XLS instead.

Can I convert multi-page PDFs?

Yes. All pages are extracted and concatenated into a single .txt file, with a page break marker between pages so you can split them programmatically if needed.

What is the maximum file size?

The online converter accepts PDF files up to 50 MB. For larger files or batch conversion of hundreds of PDFs at once, use the desktop Total PDF Converter — it handles unlimited file sizes and folders.

Is my PDF secure during conversion?

Your file is uploaded over an encrypted HTTPS connection and automatically deleted from the server after conversion. Nothing is stored permanently or shared with third parties.

Why use TXT instead of other formats?

Plain text is universal — every programming language, database, and operating system reads it. It is the preferred input format for NLP pipelines, log analysis tools, legal discovery databases (Relativity, Logikcull), and search indexing. If you need the text for further processing rather than reading, TXT is the simplest output.

Can I extract text from a password-protected PDF?

The converter can process PDFs that restrict printing or editing but do not require a password to open. If the file requires a password to open (encrypted PDF), you will need to remove the password first using your PDF reader.

What if the PDF contains multiple languages?

UTF-8 encoding handles all languages simultaneously. Mixed-language documents — English with embedded Chinese, Arabic, or Russian sections — are extracted correctly as long as the original PDF embeds the fonts or provides sufficient character metadata.

What Is PDF to TXT Conversion?

Converting a PDF to TXT means extracting the text content and saving it as a plain .txt file. The visual layout — fonts, colors, images, column positions — is discarded; what remains is the raw character stream that can be read, searched, and processed by any tool that handles text. It is the fastest way to get machine-readable content out of a PDF.

How to Convert PDF to TXT Online

Upload your PDF. Click the upload area or drag and drop the file. Files up to 50 MB are accepted.
Wait for processing. The converter extracts text from the PDF's internal streams. For scanned PDFs, OCR runs automatically.
Download the TXT file. Click the Download button to save the .txt file to your device.

No registration, no email address, no software installation required.

What Does the Text Output Contain?

The .txt file contains every character from every page, in reading order (left-to-right, top-to-bottom, respecting columns). Page breaks are marked with a separator so the page structure is recoverable. Tables are extracted row by row; visual column alignment is approximate in plain text — for spreadsheet-ready table output, convert to CSV or XLS instead.

Scanned PDFs: OCR-Powered Extraction

Many PDFs are image-only: they were created by scanning a paper document and saving each page as a raster image inside a PDF container. These files look like text on screen but contain no actual character data — copy-paste returns nothing. The converter detects image-only pages automatically and applies OCR (optical character recognition) to extract the text. Accuracy is highest on:

300 DPI or higher scans with good contrast
Clean, printed text (not handwriting)
Horizontal orientation (not rotated pages)

Common Use Cases

Use Case	Why TXT
Legal discovery	eDiscovery platforms (Relativity, Logikcull, Everlaw) ingest TXT for full-text indexing and concept searching across millions of documents
NLP / AI pipelines	Text extraction is the first step before tokenization, sentiment analysis, or LLM fine-tuning — models read raw text, not PDF binary
Contract analysis	Clause extraction tools, obligation trackers, and compliance checkers require plain text input
Data migration	Move content from legacy PDF archives into a CMS, wiki, or database without manual copy-pasting
Accessibility	Screen readers and Braille displays work best with plain text; PDF accessibility tags are often inconsistent
Log and report processing	Extract tabular data from generated PDF reports (bank statements, analytics) for scripted processing in Python or PowerShell

Encoding: UTF-8 for All Languages

The output is UTF-8 encoded, which covers all Unicode characters. Documents in Cyrillic, Arabic, Hebrew, CJK (Chinese, Japanese, Korean), Thai, and other scripts are extracted correctly — no garbled characters or question marks — as long as the original PDF embeds the fonts properly.

Online Converter vs Desktop Total PDF Converter

Feature	Online Converter	Total PDF Converter (Desktop)
File size limit	50 MB	None
Batch conversion	One file at a time	Hundreds of PDFs, whole folders
OCR for scanned PDFs	Yes	Yes, with language selection
Command-line / scripting	No	Yes — automate with .bat, Task Scheduler
Privacy (files stay local)	HTTPS + auto-delete	Files never leave your machine
Price	Free	$49.90 one-time / 30-day free trial

Common Issues and Solutions

Issue	Cause	Solution
Output TXT is empty	Image-only scanned PDF; OCR did not fire	Check that OCR is enabled; re-scan the document at higher DPI if accuracy is poor
Garbled characters (???? or boxes)	PDF does not embed fonts; character mapping is broken	Try re-printing the PDF from the original application to embed fonts, then convert
Column text runs together	Multi-column layout — reading order not preserved	Use PDF to HTML for column-aware output, or convert to CSV for table data
Password error	PDF is encrypted	Remove the password in your PDF reader first; the converter does not crack passwords

Feature	Online Converters	CoolUtils Desktop	Adobe Editor	Other Software
Batch Conversion	Limited	✅ Unlimited	Manual only	Limited
File Size Limit	1-5MB	✅ No limits	System dependent	Varies
Privacy & Security	Upload required	✅ 100% offline	✅ Local only	Varies
Conversion Speed	Internet dependent	✅ Fast local processing	Slow	Medium
Advanced Options	Basic	✅ Full customization	Limited	Basic
Cost	Free/Premium	One-time purchase	Requires Office	Subscription
Formatting Preservation	Good	✅ Excellent	Good	Varies
Multiple Formats Support	Limited	✅ 40+ formats	Few formats	Limited