---
title: "PDF Text Extractor"
description: "Extract text, layout, and bounding boxes from any PDF — entirely in your browser. Your file never leaves this page. Powered by liteparse WebAssembly."
url: https://findutils.com/developers/pdf-text-extractor/
category: developers
---

# PDF Text Extractor

Extract text, layout, and bounding boxes from any PDF — entirely in your browser. Your file never leaves this page. Powered by liteparse WebAssembly.

**Use this tool:** [PDF Text Extractor](https://findutils.com/developers/pdf-text-extractor/)

## Programmatic access

- Browser-only: this tool works on a file, the DOM, or a browser API and has no REST or MCP id.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Is my PDF uploaded to a server?

No. The entire parser runs inside your browser as WebAssembly; the only fetch for the tool is the WASM module itself, once. The PDF bytes never leave the tab. The page does load analytics and ad scripts, as most websites do, and those show in a network monitor; they are separate from the parser.

### What output formats are supported?

Three outputs from a single parse: layout-preserved plain text, structured JSON with every text span's bounding box and page number, and rendered PNG previews of each page. You can copy any tab to clipboard or download as a file.

### How large of a PDF can I parse?

The tool caps uploads at 50 MB so memory stays bounded across browsers. For larger files, split the PDF first and parse the pieces separately. Most modern PDFs under 200 pages fit comfortably under the cap.

### Does this work for scanned (image-based) PDFs?

Partially. Native text in a PDF is extracted directly. Scanned pages would need OCR, which is not bundled here to keep the download small. If your text comes back empty, the PDF is likely a scan — try an OCR tool first.

### Can I parse password-protected PDFs?

Not yet from this UI. Liteparse supports a password option in its API, but we haven't exposed a password field to keep the interface simple. Remove the password first using a PDF tool, then drop the unprotected file here.

### What about DOCX, PPTX, or images?

This tool is PDF-only. Office documents would need a server-side conversion step, which we deliberately avoid for privacy. We may ship separate browser-only tools for DOCX-to-text and image OCR later.

### How is this different from server-based PDF parsers?

Most online PDF parsers upload your file, parse it on their servers, and return the result. That's a privacy risk for any confidential document — contracts, medical records, payslips, internal memos. This tool never sees your bytes; the WASM engine runs in your browser tab.

### What output formats can I export?

Six: plain text (.txt), layout-aware Markdown (.md) with detected headings and lists, standalone HTML (.html) for web embedding, structured JSON (.json) with bounding boxes, CSV (.csv) with one row per text span (best for tabular PDFs), and rendered PNG previews of each page. Copy any of them or download as a file — nothing is sent to a server.

## Related Tools

- [JSON Formatter](https://findutils.com/developers/json-formatter/)
- [Image to Base64](https://findutils.com/convert/image-to-base64/)
- [Base64 Encoder](https://findutils.com/developers/base64-encoder/)
- [Text Encryption](https://findutils.com/security/text-encryption/)