PDF to Text Converter Software PDF to Text Converter Software
5 · 660 votes

Download PDF to Text Converter Software for Windows

PDF to Text Converter Software turns a batch of PDFs into plain .txt or Markdown files on your Windows PC, one file for each PDF, with two-column pages kept in reading order.

   
 Download for Free
Works offline on WindowsOCR for scanned pages in 12 languagesTrial writes 10 lines of every file
PDF to Text Converter Software Screenshot.
SoftOrbits PDF to Text Converter reads a stack of PDFs and writes a .txt or .md file next to each one, or into a folder you pick. A two-column journal page comes out as column one, then column two. Tables use +---+ lines, keeping numbers under their headers in Notepad. Convert papers and books you want to search in one run.
Find a quote across your books.

Find a quote across your books

On an e-book forum, a reader asked how to search every book by one author for key words. A chatbot they tried kept inventing page numbers. With plain text, Windows search, an editor or grep finds the exact passage in your own copy. You can check it against the original.

   
 Download for Free

Quote figures without typing them twice

Paste a price list or lab results out of a PDF the usual way and the figures slide into wrong places, so people end up retyping them. PDF to Text Converter Software gives you text where each figure sits under its label, ready to drop into an email or a memo.

   
 Download for Free

Quote figures without typing them twice.
Scans and text in one batch.

Scans and text in one batch

Most people can't tell by looking whether a PDF is a photo of paper or holds real text. You don't have to know. The converter decides for every sheet if OCR is needed, so a letter from the 1980s and last week's export can sit in one job.

   
 Download for Free

One PDF online, a folder on your PC

A converter website or copy and paste from a viewer is fine for one short PDF. With a library of 200 papers, the clicking gets old around file number five.

The usual way

Upload, wait, download, repeat

A converter website takes one document at a time and keeps a copy on someone else's server for a while.

  • Each PDF is uploaded and downloaded separately
  • Copying from a viewer goes page by page, by hand
  • Twenty files mean twenty rounds of clicking
VS
With the converter

Add them all, press Convert once

Everything happens in one window, from the first PDF to the last.

  • No cap on the file list, still one start
  • Same options for every document
  • A summary at the end says how many were done and where they went
  Download 

PDF to Text Converter Software features

Two-column pages in reading order

The program reads pages with several columns one column at a time. It ranks section titles by text size, keeping them out of the middle of sentences.

Tables drawn as +---+ grids

"Draw tables with lines (+---+)" is on by default. Turn it off to line up table columns with spaces. Only real tables get a grid; a two-column page of prose stays prose. A table spanning three pages becomes three tables, one per page, each with a header row only if the PDF prints one on that page.

Markdown with headings and pipe tables

PDF to Text Converter Software also writes Markdown. Titles become # to ###### headings according to their size relative to the whole document's body text. Tables become pipe tables with the first line as the header. From the second page on, each page starts with a short comment containing its PDF page number.

One .txt or .md per PDF

Each PDF gets an output with the same base name plus .txt or .md. Two PDFs called notes.pdf from different locations get separate outputs; neither is overwritten. We ask you about replacing older outputs once per batch. Stop takes effect between documents.

Files never leave your PC

The PDF engine and the recognition module are installed in the program folder and run on your machine. No account is needed, and conversion works with the network cable pulled out.

UTF-8 text with page breaks marked

Plain text is saved as UTF-8 without BOM, with Windows line endings. A form feed character always separates pages, with no switch to turn it off. This follows the classic command-line utility's convention, so scripts that split text by page keep working.

Which PDFs it reads

The program opens .pdf files only.

PDFs with a text layer
Chinese, Japanese and Korean text
Hebrew and Arabic, right to left
Scanned pages: Latin and Cyrillic OCR
Mixed files with text and scanned pages
OCR needs 64-bit Windows and covers only the two scripts above. PDFs with an open password are not supported.

How to download and use the PDF to Text Converter Software

Add your PDFs.
1

Add your PDFs

Run the setup. Drop a few PDFs or a folder of PDFs into the file list.

Pick TXT or Markdown.
2

Pick TXT or Markdown

In the format list choose "Plain text (TXT)" or "Markdown (MD)". For TXT, leave "Draw tables with lines (+---+)" on unless you want tables spaced out in columns.

Leave OCR on for scans.
3

Leave OCR on for scans

"Recognize scanned pages (OCR, ~3 s per page)" is ticked already. Under "Document language:" keep "Automatic (recommended)", or pick Latin or Cyrillic if you know what the scans hold.

Convert and search.
4

Convert and search

Choose a destination folder on the Convert page, or save the text next to each original. Start the batch. When it finishes, search that folder.

PDF to Text Converter Software
PDF to Text Converter SoftwareTry PDF to Text Converter Software on ten PDFs from your own library and read what comes out before you buy.
 Download

Who needs PDF to Text Converter Tool

Researchers and grad students

Extract text from the journal papers and conference proceedings in your thesis folder once. You can search years of reading for a term or an author's name.

Archivists with boxes of scans

Recognition turns old letters and reports scanned years ago as image PDFs into text. Index it alongside the images and search your archive by name or date.

Note-takers and knowledge-base builders

You collect manuals in a notes app or hand them to an AI assistant. Markdown drops into those tools without cleanup.

What the trial gives you

Trial and full version are one program with the same options. The difference is how much of each file gets written.

FeatureTrialFull versionWith a license key
Files and pages in a batchNo limitNo limit
Text written to each output fileFirst 10 linesWhole document
TXT and Markdown output✓✓
OCR for scanned pages✓✓
Table grids✓✓
In the trial a line of a table counts as one of the 10 lines, and the table header is kept on top of that. After the batch the program says the trial wrote only the first lines and offers a license.
  Download 
  Buy now
From $ 29.99
  Buy now
From $ 29.99
  Download 

In the trial a line of a table counts as one of the 10 lines, and the table header is kept on top of that. After the batch the program says the trial wrote only the first lines and offers a license.

PDF to Text Converter Software
PDF to Text Converter Software
Price
from $ 29.99
Version
3.3
File Size
9 Mb
Last updated on
11/09/26
Trial version: every file in the batch is converted, but only the first 10 lines of each file are written
System Requirements
  • Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7 (32/64 bit)
  • Intel i3, AMD Ryzen 5 or above
  • 4 GB of RAM or above
  • NVIDIA® GeForce® series 8 and 8M, Intel® HD Graphics 2000, Quadro FX 4800, Quadro FX 5600, AMD Radeon™ R600, Mobility Radeon™ HD 4330, Mobility FirePro™ series, Radeon™ R5 M230 or higher graphics card with up-to-date drivers
  • 1280 × 768 screen resolution, 32-bit color
  • 1 GB of free hard disk space or above

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. Our program reads your PDFs on your Windows PC. Its free trial writes the first 10 lines of each file. Use it as a free PDF to text converter for samples to check your own documents before you buy.

Add files or a folder of PDFs to the list, choose "Plain text (TXT)", pick where to save and start. A damaged or password-protected PDF stops the batch at that file. Remove it from the list and run again.

No. A PDF is a page description containing text, pictures and drawing instructions, usually compressed. Open a 350 KB PDF in Notepad and you see mostly garbage characters. A PDF saved from Word has a text layer you can extract. A scanned PDF is a picture of a page; OCR must read it to produce text.

Yes, for Latin and Cyrillic scripts on 64-bit Windows. OCR is on by default and runs only on pages that have no text layer. Tables on a scanned page come out as lines of text spaced into columns, without the +---+ grid. A page with partial text layer, for example a typed header over a scanned body, is not sent to OCR. Only its text layer is taken. If OCR finds nothing on a page, the report names the file and how many pages.

pdftotext is an open-source command-line tool from the Xpdf and Poppler projects. It writes one PDF to a .txt file in reading order by default. It has no OCR; processing a folder requires a scripted loop. Our program gives you a file list, checkboxes and scans in the same run. It has no command line of its own.

Yes. A two-column page is written as the full left column, then the full right column, not line by line across both. In our test on a two-column sample PDF, the text of column one came first, then column two, nothing mixed.

Yes. Pick "Markdown (MD)" in the format list and each PDF becomes a .md file. The grid option is hidden in this mode, because tables are written as pipe tables.

Related office and document tools

Batch printing software
PST viewer
QIF to QBO converter
QBO to PDF converter
QFX to PDF converter
PDF to CSV converter
VCF to CSV converter
PDF to JPG converter
Spreadsheet compare tool
Batch HTML to PDF converter

Rate PDF to Text Converter Software

  • Windows 7
  • Windows 8
  • Windows 10
  • Windows 11
Author: SoftOrbits (English)
5
Avg. rating: 5 from 660 votes
Good
 Download for Free

Risk-free download

progressive-webapps/apis/offline-first Created with Sketch.
100% offline
Your files never leave your PC
Safe & secure download
Directly from the official website
No sign-up required
No account or email to get started
Trusted since 2006
Desktop software for Windows