PDF to Text Converter

Novaxera's PDF to Text converter extracts the text from every page of a PDF, including scanned PDFs, free and with no signup. It runs Tesseract OCR in one of 10 languages and returns a UTF-8 .txt file with clear page separators.

Select a PDF

PDF (scanned or digital) · up to 50 MB · drag & drop or browse

Reading text...

This usually takes a few seconds.

Free · No signup · No watermark · Files deleted automatically within 60 minutes

PDF to Text at a glance

The key facts about Novaxera's PDF to Text tool.

Input
One PDF, including multi-page scans
Engine
Tesseract OCR, pages rendered at about 144 DPI
Languages
10, one per run
Output
UTF-8 .txt with “--- Page N ---” separators
Price
Free — no signup, no watermark
Max file size
50 MB per file
File deletion
Upload deleted right after processing; result deleted within 60 minutes
Works on
Any modern browser — Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iPhone

How to convert a PDF to text

  1. Upload your PDF

    Choose one PDF up to 50 MB, scanned or digital.

  2. Pick the document language

    Select one of the 10 OCR languages.

  3. Download the .txt

    Open the text file in any editor or paste it into a document.

How Novaxera's PDF to Text works

Novaxera's PDF to Text converter renders each page of your PDF as an image at about 144 DPI and passes it to Tesseract, the widely used open-source OCR engine, using the language you selected. Because it reads the rendered page, it works on scanned PDFs that have no text layer.

The recognized text from all pages is written to one UTF-8 plain-text .txt file, with “--- Page N ---” before each page's text. Formatting, layout, tables and images are not kept. The uploaded PDF is deleted after processing, and the text file is deleted automatically within 60 minutes.

Why use Novaxera's PDF to Text

Works on scanned PDFs

OCR reads pages that are only images, where copy-and-paste returns nothing.

Page markers

“--- Page N ---” separators show where each page's text begins.

10 languages

English, Arabic, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese (Simplified) and Japanese.

Common use cases

Searchable notes from scans

Pull the text out of a scanned contract, letter or report so you can search and quote it.

Reusing old documents

Recover the wording of printed documents that only exist as scanned PDFs.

Feeding text to other tools

Get plain text for translation, summarizing or note-taking apps.

Limitations to know

  • Accuracy depends on scan quality; blurry, skewed or low-contrast pages produce more errors.
  • Handwriting is not reliably recognized.
  • Only one language per run; mixed-language documents need separate runs.
  • No formatting is kept; for digital PDFs, PDF to Word keeps the layout.

Tips for better results

  • Straighten sideways pages with Rotate PDF before running OCR.
  • Have a photo or screenshot instead of a PDF? Use Image to Text.
  • Remove blank or irrelevant pages first with Delete PDF Pages for a cleaner text file.

Frequently asked questions

How do I convert a scanned PDF to text?

Upload the scanned PDF to Novaxera's PDF to Text converter, choose the document's language and download the .txt file. Each page is rendered at about 144 DPI and read with Tesseract OCR, so the text is recovered even though the scan has no text layer.

Does PDF to Text work on digital PDFs too?

Yes. Novaxera's PDF to Text converter reads the rendered page, so it also works on digital PDFs. If you want to keep fonts, tables and layout from a digital PDF, PDF to Word is usually the better choice, because PDF to Text outputs plain text only.

Will the text file keep my formatting?

No. Novaxera's PDF to Text converter produces a UTF-8 plain-text .txt file with no fonts, layout, tables or images. Each page's text starts with a “--- Page N ---” separator. Paste the text into Word or Google Docs to format it.

Is it safe to upload scanned documents to Novaxera?

Yes. Novaxera's PDF to Text converter receives your PDF over an encrypted HTTPS connection, deletes it once OCR finishes, and deletes the text file automatically within 60 minutes. Documents are not shared or used for anything else.

Is PDF to Text free, and are there limits?

Yes. Novaxera's PDF to Text converter is free, with no signup. Each upload is one PDF of up to 50 MB, multi-page scans included, and you choose one of 10 languages per run. Accuracy depends on the quality of the scan.

Can I extract text from a PDF on my phone?

Yes. Novaxera's PDF to Text converter works in mobile browsers on iPhone, iPad and Android, as well as on Windows, macOS and Linux. Upload the PDF, pick the language and download the .txt file, with nothing to install.

Related guides

Related tools

Image to Text (OCR)

Extract text from images and scanned PDFs in 10 languages

PDF to Word

Turn PDFs into editable Word DOCX documents

Rotate PDF

Turn all or selected PDF pages 90° or 180°, saved permanently

Arabic OCR

Extract printed Arabic text from images and scans

Delete PDF Pages

Remove chosen pages from a PDF and keep the rest unchanged

Last updated · Maintained by Ghaith Alali · Facts on this page describe how Novaxera's PDF to Text tool currently works. · Privacy policy