Extract the text from a PDF
Quick answer
Filly reads a PDF's text layer and returns it as a plain .txt file, keeping line breaks and labelling each page. If the PDF is a scan and has no text layer, it says so rather than handing back an empty file.
When you’d use this
Quoting a filing in correspondence
Copying several paragraphs out of a PDF viewer usually mangles the line breaks. Extracting the text gives you something you can paste cleanly into a letter or a response.
Searching a document you can't search
Once the text is in a .txt file, ordinary find-in-file works across the whole document.
How to do it
- 1Open the PDF tools and choose PDF to text.
- 2Select the PDF.
- 3Run it and download the .txt file.
What it doesn’t do
This reads the text layer — it does not perform OCR. A scanned or photographed document has no text layer at all, and the tool will tell you so instead of returning a blank file; upload those as a form, where OCR runs. Layout is not preserved either: tables and multi-column pages come out as sequential lines, and extraction is capped at 30 pages.
Frequently asked questions
How do I extract text from a PDF?
Open Filly's PDF tools, choose PDF to text, and select the file. You get a .txt download with line breaks preserved and each page labelled. It reads the existing text layer, so it is fast and exact rather than a best guess.
Why did it say my PDF has no text?
Because it is almost certainly a scan or a photograph — an image of a page, with no text layer underneath. Rather than hand you an empty file that looks like a bug, the tool says so. Upload that document as a form instead, where OCR reads the text off the image.
Does it keep tables and columns?
No. Extraction returns the text in reading order as sequential lines; a two-column layout or a table will come out flattened. If the structure matters more than the words, keep the PDF.
The tools are the side of it
Filly is a form filler first: save a client’s details once and every form you upload afterwards fills itself from that profile. These PDF tools exist because the paperwork around a filing needs assembling before and after it’s filled.
- Free plan — 10 forms, 5 clients, 10 fills a month, no card
- Reads any PDF or DOCX, including scans via OCR
- 18 official IRS, USCIS and SSA forms built in