ExtractFoxExtract text from any PDF
Drop a PDF — digital, scanned, image-based, or a mix — and get clean text back. One tool for both, no separate OCR step.
What should we pull from this pdf?
Or pick specific fields
Or describe it yourself
Why this matters
Most 'PDF to text' tools handle one case well: either they pull text out of digital PDFs (where it's already encoded) or they OCR scanned PDFs (and lose layout). ExtractFox handles both in a single pass — and on scanned PDFs the reading is dramatically more accurate than legacy OCR engines like Tesseract or older versions of Acrobat. Legal discovery exports thousands of scanned exhibits where Tesseract returns garbage on redacted pages and stamps — reviewers search for keywords that were never actually extracted. Researchers need full-text search across a corpus of mixed digital and scan PDFs but maintaining two pipelines (pdftotext + OCR) doubles the failure surface.
How it works
- Step 1Upload the PDF
Native digital PDFs, scanned PDFs, image-based PDFs, multi-page — all in one tool. Up to 20 MB.
- Step 2Pick what to extract
All text (default), or specific slices: just the body, just the headers, only one page range, only a specific section.
- Step 3Copy or download
Copy it straight from the result, download as .txt, or take structured JSON if you asked for fielded extraction. Markdown mode returns Markdown — headings and all — in the text.
Common use cases
Sample output
Example: text from the first 2 pages of a scanned report PDF
| text | Annual Report 2026 Acme Corporation --- Page 1 --- To our shareholders, Fiscal year 2026 was a year of strong growth and operational improvement. Revenue grew 8.8% year-over-year to $15.21 billion, driven by continued expansion in our enterprise segment and the launch of three new product lines. --- Page 2 --- Financial highlights Total revenue: $15.21B (+8.8% YoY) Operating income: $2.87B (+13.0% YoY) Diluted EPS: $6.12 (+11.5% YoY) Cash from operations: $3.42B |
Frequently asked questions
How do I extract text from a PDF?+
Upload the PDF here and pick a mode (all text, Markdown, body only, etc.). Click Extract, then copy the text or download it as .txt or JSON.
Does it work on scanned PDFs?+
Yes — and that's where it matters most. Scanned PDFs need real OCR; ExtractFox's vision model is dramatically more accurate than legacy OCR engines on real-world scans.
How is this different from pdf.js or pdfplumber?+
pdf.js and pdfplumber pull text out of digital PDFs by reading the embedded text layer. They don't do OCR — on scanned PDFs they return nothing useful. ExtractFox handles both digital and scanned PDFs in one pass, with the same quality.
Can I extract text from a specific page range?+
Yes. Type your range in the description box — e.g. 'extract text from pages 3 to 7'. The model returns only those pages.
What about multi-column layouts and tables?+
Multi-column reading order is detected automatically — text comes through in natural left-to-right, top-to-bottom order per column. For tables specifically, use the Tables only mode to get structured rows instead of flowing text.
Will the formatting be preserved?+
Plain-text mode preserves line breaks and paragraph spacing. Markdown mode preserves headings, lists, and tables. For full visual formatting (fonts, colors, exact positions), no text-extraction tool can preserve those — you need a converter to a format like .docx.
How is this different from the PDF data extractor?+
The data extractor returns structured fields (invoice line items, contract clauses, etc.). The text extractor returns the words themselves as plain text. Pick text extraction when you want the document's content; pick data extraction when you want specific values out of it.
Can I get Markdown with headings for a documentation site import?+
Yes — pick the As Markdown mode. Headings become # / ## / ###, lists become bullets, and tables become Markdown tables ready for Hugo, Docusaurus, or Notion import.
Does it extract text from PDFs that mix digital pages and scanned inserts?+
Yes. Mixed PDFs — digital text on some pages, scanned images on others — are handled in one pass without switching tools or modes.