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Convert PDF to Text Online — A Complete Guide

2025-12-30

Converting PDF to text sounds simple—until you discover there are two kinds of PDFs. This guide explains both and shows the best method for each.

1) Digital PDF vs scanned PDF (why it matters)

  • Digital PDF: text is selectable. You can usually copy/paste directly.
  • Scanned PDF: each page is an image. You need OCR PDF to extract text.

2) Convert a digital PDF to text

  1. Open the PDF.
  2. Select text and copy, or export to TXT/DOCX.
  3. Check formatting: line breaks and hyphenation may need cleanup.

3) Convert a scanned PDF to text using OCR

  1. Upload the PDF to an OCR tool.
  2. Choose the document language (or auto-detect if available).
  3. Run OCR and download the output as TXT/DOCX.

4) Tips to improve OCR PDF accuracy

  • Use 300 DPI scans when possible.
  • Fix skew and rotate pages before OCR.
  • Prefer grayscale scans for clearer edges.
  • Split huge PDFs if the service has limits.

5) Troubleshooting common PDF to text problems

  • Garbled characters: wrong language selected.
  • Missing text: low resolution or heavy noise.
  • Broken words: remove hyphenation manually or re-run with better scan quality.

Whether your document is scanned or digital, the right workflow makes PDF to text conversion fast and accurate.