Convert PDF to Text or Markdown
Get the words out of a PDF in the order a person reads them: as plain text, or as Markdown with its headings and lists.
or drop it anywhere
How to convert PDF to Text or Markdown
Choose your PDF
Pick it or drop it on this page.
Text or Markdown
Plain text is selected; switch to Markdown to keep headings, bold, lists and tables.
Save the file
A .txt or .md file is saved to your device.
PDF to Text in your browser
Copying text out of a PDF often gives you lines from two columns woven together, because a PDF stores text in the order it was drawn, not the order it is read. OnePDF works out the reading order first: columns one at a time, side-by-side blocks kept together.
Save it as plain text, or as Markdown that keeps headings (found from text set larger than the body), bold, italic, lists and simple tables. It is a quick way to move a document into a notes app, a wiki or a prompt.
Why use OnePDF to convert PDF to Text or Markdown
Reading order, not drawing order
Columns are read one at a time and side-by-side blocks stay together, so paragraphs do not interleave.
Markdown that keeps structure
Headings come from text set larger than the body, and bold, italic, lists and simple tables are kept.
Scanned pages too
Run OCR first and the recognised words are included.
Questions about PDF to Text
Does it work on scanned PDFs?
Yes, once the scan has been recognised with OCR. Without OCR a scanned page has no text to extract, and the converter says which pages those are.
What does the Markdown keep?
Headings, bold and italic text, bulleted and numbered lists, and text that sat side by side as tables. Fonts, colours and positions are not part of Markdown.
Is my PDF uploaded?
Not unless you sign in. Signed out, your file is opened by OnePDF inside your browser, on your own device, and is not uploaded to any server. Signed in with a TensorActivity account, the files you open are also saved to your account, encrypted, so they are there on every device you sign in to.
Guides
- How to redact a PDF so the words are really gone
Why a black box over text is not a redaction, where removed words still hide, and how to redact a PDF and check it.
- How to convert a scanned PDF to an editable Word document
Why a scan converts to Word as pictures, and how OCR turns it into text you can edit.