Extract text from a PDF

Why extract a PDF's text with ModySign?

You receive a PDF with useful text (report, contract, quote) and you want to reuse it without retyping: paste into an email, import into an analytics tool, feed a full-text search, hand it to an LLM. Exporting to .txt is the simplest route — no formatting to clean, just the useful content.

Most online PDF→text extractors (Smallpdf, iLovePDF, PDF24) upload your document to their servers. For a contract, confidential meeting notes, HR or medical file, that's unacceptable. ModySign extracts text directly in your browser via pdfjs — your PDF never leaves your machine.

Important: extraction only works on PDFs that actually contain text (PDFs generated from Word, LibreOffice, browser). If your PDF is an image scan (photographed PDF), no text will be found — a clear message will tell you. For that case you need OCR, available on our Pro plan.

Questions fréquentes

Does this work on scanned PDFs?+

No. This tool extracts "real" text from a PDF (PDF generated from Word, LibreOffice, Google Docs, browser). If your PDF is a scan (photographed PDF), no text is extracted — you need an OCR tool. A clear message will tell you.

Is my PDF uploaded to your servers?+

No, never. Extraction runs entirely in your browser via pdfjs-dist. Your file NEVER leaves your machine — unlike Smallpdf, iLovePDF or PDF24 which upload your documents to their foreign servers.

Is the layout preserved?+

Approximately. Lines and paragraph order are preserved (grouped by Y position, sorted by X), but the text is delivered as raw .txt without bold, italic or structured tables. To preserve full structure, export from Acrobat to Word then use our Word to PDF.

Is there a page limit?+

No limit on ModySign side. The only limit comes from your browser's RAM — in practice 500+ page PDFs work fine, just take a few extra seconds.