⭐ Starlight Tools / PDF Text Extractor

How to Use:

Drag and drop your PDF file into the area above, or click to upload. Our tool will then quickly extract all readable text directly within your browser. Once extracted, you can copy the text to your clipboard or download it as a plain text file.

How it Works (Client-Side Text Extraction):

This tool uses the pdf.js library to process your PDF file directly within your web browser. This means your PDF never leaves your computer, ensuring maximum privacy and security. The text extraction is performed by analyzing the PDF's internal structure for text elements.

*Note on Text Extraction: The accuracy of text extraction depends on how the PDF was created. Scanned PDFs, or PDFs with complex layouts, might result in less accurate or incomplete text extraction.

What This Tool Can Do:

• Extract Readable Text: This tool excels at extracting text from "born-digital" PDFs, meaning PDFs that were created directly from a word processor or similar software and contain selectable text.
• Maintain Page Order: The extracted text will be ordered by page, helping you understand the document's flow.
• Client-Side Processing: All text extraction happens securely in your web browser. Your document never leaves your computer, ensuring maximum privacy.
• Simple and Fast: For straightforward documents, the extraction process is very quick and efficient.

What This Tool Cannot Do (Limitations):

• Scanned Documents (Image-Based PDFs): This tool cannot extract text from PDFs that are essentially images (e.g., scanned documents, faxes, or PDFs created by taking photos of documents). For these, you would need Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, which is beyond the scope of this client-side tool. If you upload a scanned PDF, the output text will likely be empty or contain gibberish.
• Complex Layouts: PDFs with very complex layouts, such as multiple columns, text wrapped around images, or unusual text flows, might result in text that is out of order or difficult to read.
• Hidden Text or Non-Standard Fonts: Some PDFs might contain text that is hidden (e.g., white text on a white background, or text outside the visible page area), or use highly specialized fonts that `pdf.js` may struggle to interpret correctly.
• Form Field Data (Without Specific Extraction): While the text within a PDF form field might be extracted, the structured data from interactive form fields themselves (like checkbox states or dropdown selections) is generally not extracted as separate, usable data points.
• Formatting and Layout Preservation: This tool focuses on extracting the raw textual content. It will not preserve the original formatting, fonts, colors, or exact layout (like paragraphs, tables, or columns) of the PDF. The output is plain text.
• Password-Protected or Encrypted PDFs: PDFs that are password-protected or encrypted cannot be processed by this tool unless you first remove the protection with the correct password using another application.
• Malicious or Corrupted PDFs: Corrupted or malformed PDF files may not be processed correctly and could cause errors.