How to copy text from a PDF
You received a quotation or a product list as a PDF and want to copy the text to edit it or put it in a sheet. Some files give you the text easily, and some will not give you a single word. The difference is in how the file was made.
The text layer: what you are looking for
A file exported from a word processor or spreadsheet carries a real text layer, and the tool reads it and rebuilds the lines and reading order. A page scanned on a scanner or photographed with a phone is only a picture, with no text stored at all. The tool does not read pictures, since it does not use optical character recognition, and it tells you so plainly instead of handing you an empty page.
A 4-page file: page 1 is normal text, page 2 is scanned, page 3 is empty and page 4 is in Arabic.
Page 1 comes back with its lines in reading order and its paragraphs separated.
Page 2 shows a notice that it has no text layer and looks like a scanned image.
Page 3 shows a notice that it looks empty, and page 4 returns the Arabic exactly as it is stored in the file.
How to do it
- Open the PDF text extractor and choose a PDF.
- Set a page range if you need one, and choose text per page or one combined block.
- Press “Extract text”, and read the notices about pages with no text.
- Copy the text or download it as a .txt file.
Arabic text: read it before you rely on it
What extracted Arabic looks like depends on the program that made the file. Some files come back perfectly clean, and some come back in visual order or with broken letters. In our own test file, one word came out with its last two letters swapped, and a lam-alef pair came out in the wrong order. So always review the text before using it in an official document.
Limits to know
- Tables lose their columns: each row becomes one line with spaces between the cells.
- Side-by-side columns and footnotes can get mixed in complex documents.
- Fonts, colors and images are not extracted.
- Tested limits: a file up to 100 MB and 500 pages. Password-protected files are refused.
After copying, if extra spaces or lots of blank lines show up, clean them with the Whitespace cleaner. If you need the page as it looks rather than its text, turn it into an image with PDF to images.
Common questions
Why does no text come out of my file?
The pages are most likely scanned images with no text layer. The tool does not use optical character recognition, so it cannot read words from a picture.
Is my file uploaded?
No, reading happens inside your browser.
Do tables stay as tables?
No, each row becomes a single line. You will need to rebuild the columns by hand.