Convert PDF to plain text
Convert PDF to plain text online for free — no account, no watermark, nothing stored. Plain text is unformatted text and nothing else, so it opens in every editor ever written.
Drop your PDF file here
or click to choose one from your device
How to convert your PDF file to plain text
- Drop your PDF file into the box above, or paste your text straight in — there is nothing to install and no account to create.
- Check that Convert to says plain text. Every other format your PDF file can become is in the same menu.
- Press Convert & download. The converted file arrives in your downloads a moment later.
What changes when you convert PDF to plain text
Your PDF file
PDF is a fixed-layout document that looks identical on every device and every printer.
- Normally opened in
- any browser, phone, or PDF reader
- Carries
- the exact page layout, fonts, images and pagination
The plain text you get
Plain text is unformatted text and nothing else.
- Keeps
- the words, in the order they were in
- Cannot carry
- all formatting: headings, bold, tables, images
Questions
Is this PDF to plain text converter free?
Yes. Converting here is free, needs no account, and adds no watermark. Sign in only if you want your files kept in a library you can come back to, or want to convert a batch at once.
What happens to my formatting when I convert PDF to plain text?
Plain text keeps the words, in the order they were in. What it cannot carry over is all formatting: headings, bold, tables, images. Coming from PDF, the content that matters — the exact page layout, fonts, images and pagination — is what the converter works from.
What happens to my file after it is converted?
It is converted on our server and handed straight back to you in the response. Nothing is stored, and nothing is kept after the download unless you are signed in and chose to save it to your library.
How big a PDF file can I convert?
Up to 10 MB here without an account. A free account raises that to 100 MB and lets you convert many files in one run.
What will open the plain text file I get?
Every editor ever written.
Other conversions
There is a lot more where that came from
A free Grafy account takes turning PDF into plain text from one file at a time to a whole workbench: merge, split, crop, compress, sign, redact and OCR your documents, keep everything in one library, and use it across the rest of Grafy.