6 Best Tools on How to Convert PDFs to Text

Part 1. Why Convert PDF to Text?

As discussed above, the text file format is widely accepted due to its ease of sharing and data extraction ability. Moreover, users cannot edit PDFs, so for this purpose, they have to use the best PDF-to-text converters to convert their PDFs to text formats. Let's go through the other scenarios where PDF-to-text conversion can be beneficial:

1. Smaller File Size: Text files are compact as they only contain the actual text with minimal formatting information. This can be important for users dealing with large PDFs, especially when the storage space is limited. In addition, users can ensure faster uploads and downloads by converting files to TXT format.
2. Working with Scanned PDFs: Users often deal with scanned PDFs, which are images of physical documents. However, the text within the scanned documents is not editable. Converting them to text with the help of OCR functionality allows you to perform accurate PDF-to-text extraction like a normal file.
3. Ease of Access: Screenreaders and assistive technologies used by visually impaired individuals only recognize the files in text formats. Screen readers can easily interpret and convert plain text into speech, making the information contained within the PDF readily available.
4. Data Analysis: Text files are the foundation for many data analysis tools to perform functions like sentiment analysis and keyword extraction.By analyzing the text, these tools analyze the overall tone in the documents and identify the important words used.
5. Copy and Pasting Option: Some PDFs have restrictions that prevent copying or pasting text, but sometimes, you only need a specific section of text from a PDF. Conversion of the entire document into text allows you to easily copy and paste the relevant portion you need.

Part 2. Step-by-Step Guide to Convert PDF to Text Using Afirstsoft PDF

Users who want to learn how to convert PDF to text can simply utilize Afirstsoft PDF for their PDF conversion needs. Using this free-to-use tool, you need to import the PDF file from your device to automatically create a text file within seconds. Surprisingly, this tool offers a batch processing feature, allowing users to convert multiple PDFs to text files to save time compared to individual conversion tasks.

Additionally, Afirstsoft PDF text conversion enables users to set the page range to convert specific pages of the PDF into text format. You even get the option to convert the content within scanned documents into searchable and editable text format using its OCR feature. Let's go through this step-by-step guide to convert your PDFs to text in an efficient manner using the Afirstsoft PDF tool:

Step 1. Launch Afirstsoft PDF to Text Converter On Your Device

To begin, download and install the latest version of Afirstsoft PDF to your system to start the conversion process. Launch the software on your device and open it to access its main interface. Click on the "Open" button from the left side panel to import the PDF that you want to convert using this tool.

Step 2. Perform PDF to Text Conversion Using the Export Option

After importing the PDF to the tool's editing interface, hit the "File" tab at the top left corner of your screen to access a drop-down menu. Place the cursor on the "Export" option within the pop-up menu to extend its list of file formats. Moving forward, select the "TEXT" option from the available list of file formats to initiate the PDF-to-text conversion.

Step 3. Save PDF to Text Converted File To Device

After that, the "Convert" window will be displayed on the screen, from where you can choose "Text" as the output format. Select the folder where you want to save the converted file from the "Output Folder" section. Finally, tap on the "Convert" button at the bottom of the window to convert your PDF to text format and save it to your device.

Download it for free now to try out the conversion features!

Free Download

• 100% secure

Key Features of Afirstsoft PDF To Text Converter

1. This PDF-to-text converter provides annotation tools that allow you to highlight or underline specific sections of the text to improve understanding.
2. You can utilize its editing features to modify existing text, add new text, or delete unwanted content.
3. Afirstsoft PDF provides an AI assistant that lets you interact with the documents to understand the details within the content.
4. Using its page organization feature, you can extract individual pages from the PDF to create separate text files.

Part 3. Best 6 Tools for PDF-to-Text Conversion

Multiple online and offline converters are available to facilitate the conversion of PDFs to text formats. Users might find it difficult to choose the tool best suited to their requirements due to the variety of options. Hence, this discussion will provide some of the best PDF-to-text converters to help you make the right choice:

1. PDF2GO

PDF2GO is an advanced tool that lets you edit and convert PDF files to diverse formats such as TXT in your browser. You can even specify the languages that the original document contains for accurate PDF-to-text extraction. Users can benefit from its OCR functionality to extract text from scanned documents apart from the basic PDF-to-text conversion. This tool also provides a batch-processing feature to convert multiple documents to text files.

Pricing Plans

• Professional:$8.5 per month

Supported Platforms

• Online, Windows

2. UPDF

Users can generate text files from PDFs or vice versa with the help of this best PDF-to-text converter. Apart from conversion to text, this tool allows you to convert your documents to unique file formats, including CSV, Image, or HTML. This multifunctional tool offers advanced OCR functionality to convert the content within scanned documents into text. You even get the option to specify the page range for more targeted conversion.

Pricing Plans

• UPDF PRO: $39.99 per year
• UPDF Pro Perpetual: $69.99
• UPDF AI Assistant: $79.00 per year

Supported Platforms

• Mac,Windows, iOS, Android, Online

3. PDF24

PDF24 stands as one of the best online PDF-to-text converters due to its intuitive interface and support for multiple file formats. Using this online converter, you get the option to directly drag and drop the PDF to begin the conversion process. Other than converting PDFs to text files, you even get the utility to generate Word, PNG, or EPUB files.

Pricing Plans

Free

Supported Platforms

• Online, Windows, Mac, iPhone, Android

4. PDF-XChange Editor

With this converter, users get the option to convert PDFs to various formats without losing quality. Users can also convert the text within the scanned images or documents into searchable and editable text by utilizing the OCR function. Surprisingly, it provides a multilingual character recognition feature that can detect and extract text in any dialect. You can even directly convert the entire webpage or specific sections into a PDF.

Pricing Plans

• PDF-XChange Editor (Single License): $56.00 per year

Supported Platforms

• Windows

5. Nanonets

As one of the best PDF-to-text converters, Nanonets allows users to easily convert files to and from PDFs. Using this advanced tool, you can also utilize advanced OCR technology for accurate extraction of text from scanned documents. You also get the chance to convert a large batch of PDFs to text files. Furthermore, you can even identify and convert the text within images into a usable and searchable plain text format.

Pricing Plans

• PRO:$999 per month

Supported Platforms

• Online

6. AvePDF

With this best PDF-to-text converter, directly upload PDFs for conversion to text through Dropbox, Google Drive, or a web URL. Before conversion, the tool provides the option to preserve the original content layout in the generated text file. After generating, you get the option to download the file to your device or save it to your Google Drive. Users can consider flattening PDFs to reduce the overall size.

Pricing Plans

• AvePDF Premium: $55 per year

Supported Platforms

• Online

Part 4. Detailed Comparison of PDF to Text Conversion Tools

Since we’ve already explored how to convert PDF to text using the top online and offline solutions, let's shift gears and delve into their detailed comparison. The comparison below will help you determine the best tool for your needs based on the comparative analysis of their essential conversion features and performance:

After comparing PDF to text converters, we can clearly see that Afirstsoft PDF software ranks as the top tool among all its alternatives. The superior AI powered features and conversion accuracy makes it the most suitable choice for PDF to text conversion.

Part 5. Tips for Effective PDF-to-Text Conversion

After going through the above comparison table, you might have selected your preferred tool. Before using a PDF-to-text conversion tool, there are certain tricks you must keep in mind to achieve smooth and accurate conversions:

1. Consider Your Needs: Before picking a tool, consider the type of PDF files you need to convert using the tool. For example, if you're working with scanned documents, you must choose a tool that provides OCR functionality. Moreover, to process the conversion of multiple PDF files simultaneously, look for tools with batch conversion features.
2. Pre-ProcessPDF: The best PDF-to-text conversion tip is to pre-prepare the PDF by deleting unwanted elements or adding any missing text. In addition, the contrast between text and background should be adjusted so that the OCR feature can accurately detect and extract text.
3. Remove Complex Formatting: While converting PDFs to text, inconsistent or complex formatting can reduce text extraction accuracy. Therefore, you must remove unwanted elements like headers and footers from the PDF before performing conversion. Additionally, consider removing solid-color backgrounds, as they can sometimes interfere with text recognition.
4. Reduce File Size: Large file sizes can lead to slower processing speed, especially with online PDF-to-text converters. To overcome this issue, reduce the file size of your PDFs using compression tools. You can also consider removing unwanted PDF pages, which will automatically help reduce the overall file size.
5. Maximize Accuracy: To improve the accuracy of PDF-to-text conversion, don't use uncommon fonts within the PDFsbecause OCR sometimes struggles to identify complex fonts. Moreover, to improve the accuracy of OCR further, choose a tool that allows you to select the language of your PDF.

Part 6. FAQs on How To Convert PDF to Text

1. Can I perform Text to PDF conversion usinga converter?

Yes, you can definitely convert your text files to PDF using online or offline converters. Online tools often have limitations regarding file uploads or conversion accuracy. Thus, you must consider using advanced offline tools like Afirstsoft PDF to perform effortless text-to-PDF conversion. Converting files with this software maintains the original layout and formatting within the generated PDF.

2. Are there free converters available for PDF-to-text conversion?

Yes, there are many free PDF to text converters available such as online converters including PDF2GO and AvePDF. However, these tools often face challenges in accuracy, processing speed and have file size limitations. Among free tools. Afirstsoft PDF stands as an exceptional option that does not have such limitations or drawbacks.

3. Can I convert a scanned document into a text format?

Users can convert scanned documents into text files by utilizing the tools that have OCR functionality. Many online and desktop converters have in-built OCR features that can detect and extract the text within scanned documents. One such tool with AI-powered OCR is the Afirstsoft PDF text conversion tool which accurately extracts the text in scanned documents or even images into editable and searchable text format.

Conclusion

To wrap up, this guide conducted an in-depth analysis of the top-notch PDF-to-text conversion tools to streamline your document management. We examined AI features, performance, and accuracy metrics to give a comprehensive view of each option and help you pick the optimal tool. Among all the competitors in the market, the Afirstsoft PDF text conversion tool outperformed its alternatives in terms of its AI capabilities, excellent conversion accuracy, and quality.