Convert PDF to Plain Text

Nitro Pro enables you to extract all the text from a PDF document to a text file, which can be saved to any folder or destination without modifying the original PDF document.

NOTE: OCR (optical character recognition) will be automatically used on image-based (or scanned) PDF files to recognize and convert the text contained in the document.

To convert a PDF file to plain text:

1. On the Home tab, in the Convert panel, click To Other then To Plain Text. The Convert PDF to Plain Text dialog appears.

2. If a PDF is already open, Nitro Pro automatically uses it as the file to convert. Otherwise, click the Add Files button, select a file, then click Open.

3. To change settings, in the Output section, click Options, and change any of the following:

• Preserve paragraph structure: Retains paragraph formatting, making it easier to reuse the text.
• Break each line to a width of…: Specify a uniform line width based on number of characters.
• Headers and footers: Choose whether to keep or discard the document’s headers and footers.

4. To specify the destination for the text output, from the Output section, select one of the following from the Save files to menu:

• Specific folder: You can select a location to save the text file before it is created.
• Folder of original file: The new text file will be saved in the same location as the source PDF file which you selected in step 2.
• Ask during the process: You will be prompted to choose a location where to save the text file after it is created.

5. To open the new text file when it is created, check the Open files after conversion checkbox.

6. Click Convert to convert the PDF file. No changes are made to the original PDF file.