Free tool
Free PDF to text.
Pull the text out of any PDF — free, instant, and entirely in your browser. Nothing is uploaded. Copy it or download a .txt. From the team behind Sidenote, the AI reading assistant that cites every answer to the source.
Runs entirely in your browser — your PDF never leaves your device.
FAQ
Free PDF to text — common questions.
Yes — completely free, with no sign-up or card. Choose a PDF and the text is extracted instantly, right in your browser.
No. Extraction runs entirely in your browser on your own device — your file never leaves your computer and nothing is sent to a server.
That PDF is most likely scanned (an image of text), so there's no text layer to copy. This free in-browser tool can only read embedded text; Sidenote can OCR scanned PDFs and read them for you.
Both. Copy the extracted text to your clipboard, or download it as a .txt file with one click.
This tool just pulls out the raw text. The Sidenote extension lets you ask questions about a PDF and cites the exact passage each answer comes from, scrolling you straight to it — plus summaries, a glossary, and read-aloud.
Embed this tool
Add PDF to Text Converter to your site — free.
Drop the free PDF to Text Converter straight into your site. Paste this snippet where you want it — please keep the attribution link.
<iframe src="https://getsidenote.app/embed/pdf-to-text" title="Free PDF to Text Converter by Sidenote" width="100%" height="720" loading="lazy" style="max-width:760px;border:1px solid #ddd;border-radius:12px"></iframe>
<p style="font:13px/1.5 sans-serif;text-align:center;margin:8px 0">
<a href="https://getsidenote.app/tools/pdf-to-text">Free PDF to Text Converter</a> by <a href="https://getsidenote.app">Sidenote</a>
</p>Ready when you are
Stop digging. Start asking.
Add Sidenote to Chrome, open any page in your wiki, and ask it the question you’ve been Slacking the team about.
7-day Pro trial · No card required · Free tier forever