How to convert a PDF to text on a Mac

With PDF Unlimited (free)

1. Open the PDF

   Open the document in PDF Unlimited.

2. Check that it has text

   Try selecting a word. If the cursor draws a box instead, the page is an image. Choose Tools > Make Searchable (OCR) and let it read the pages first.

3. Export as text

   Choose File > Export > As Text…, pick a name and a folder, and click Save. You get one plain text file containing the text of every page.

4. Or copy just a part

   For a quote or a paragraph, select the text on the page and press ⌘C, then paste it wherever you need it.

With Preview, built into macOS

1. Turn on text selection

   Open the PDF in Preview and choose Tools > Text Selection.

2. Select and copy

   Drag across the text you want, then choose Edit > Copy. Hold Option while dragging to select a single column, such as one column of a table.

3. Paste it

   Paste into TextEdit, Notes or any other app. Preview's Export menu saves images and PDFs, not plain text, so for a whole document you repeat this page by page.

Why some PDFs give you nothing

A PDF made from a word processor stores real letters, so the text comes straight out. A PDF made by a scanner or a phone camera stores photos of pages. To a computer, that is a picture, and exporting it as text gives you an empty file.

PDF Unlimited tells you when this happens: if the export is empty, it suggests running Make Searchable first. Tools > Make Searchable (OCR) recognizes the words on each page and adds an invisible text layer, and then File > Export > As Text… has something to export. More on that in how to OCR a PDF.

Plain text, Markdown or Word

Plain text is the lowest common denominator: every app on earth can open it, and it is ideal for pasting into an email, a spreadsheet, a notes app or an AI chat. What it drops is formatting. Headings, bold, tables and columns all become ordinary lines.

If you want some structure to survive, try our free PDF to Markdown converter. It runs in your browser, keeps headings and lists as Markdown, and does not upload the file. Turning a PDF back into a fully editable Word document is a different, harder job that needs a dedicated converter.

Tips for cleaner text

Text pulled out of a PDF is rarely perfect. A few things help:

• Rotate sideways pages before running OCR. Upright pages read far better. See rotate a PDF.
• Crop away headers, footers and page numbers you do not want repeated on every page with the crop tool.
• Multi-column layouts can come out in an odd order. Check the result before you rely on it.
• Scans of handwriting are hit and miss. Printed text is far more reliable.

Why not an online converter

Online PDF to text tools work, but they need your file on their server first. That is a poor trade for bank statements, contracts and medical letters. PDF Unlimited extracts text on your Mac, works offline, and has no account and no telemetry.

Questions