Extract Text

Extracting text pulls the readable words out of a PDF into a plain .txt file. This lets you reuse content in another document, feed it into a translator or analyser, or quickly copy a long passage without manual retyping.

ColaPDF uses the PDF.js engine to read the text layer of your document directly in the browser. Note that scanned PDFs with no text layer (just images of pages) will not yield text unless they have already been run through OCR.

How it works

1. Upload your PDF
2. Click Extract Text — all readable text is extracted page by page
3. Preview the extracted text on screen
4. Download the .txt file

Tips

• Works on PDFs with a real text layer; pure scans need OCR first.
• Output is plain text, so complex formatting and layout are not preserved.
• A fast way to grab quotes or data from a long report without retyping.

Frequently asked questions

What if my PDF is a scanned document?

Scanned PDFs contain images of text, not actual text. This tool will return no text for those. Use an OCR tool for scanned documents.

Is formatting preserved?

The output is plain text — formatting like bold, tables and columns is not preserved.

Are files uploaded?

No. Text extraction runs in your browser using PDF.js.