You need the text of a 40-page PDF for translation, or to feed into an analysis tool, or just to clean up and republish.
If the PDF has live text, extraction is trivial. If it's a scan, OCR makes it possible.
Check what kind of PDF you have
Try to select text in any reader. If text highlights, it's a live-text PDF — extraction is easy. If nothing highlights, it's a scanned PDF — needs OCR first.
For live-text PDFs
Use Flint's PDF to Word converter for editable text in a Word doc. Or convert to plain text via the editor's text export.
Word output preserves formatting. Plain text is purely the words, no styling.
For scanned PDFs
Run OCR first. The tool adds a recognised text layer over the scan. Then export to text or Word.
OCR accuracy is high (90-95%) for clean scans, lower for messy ones. Spot-check the output before relying on it.
FAQ
Will formatting be preserved?
Plain text loses formatting. Word export keeps most of it — bold, italics, paragraphs, headings.
What about images embedded in the PDF?
Text extraction ignores images. Use image extraction separately if you want both.
Can I extract just one page?
Split the PDF to the page you want first, then extract from the smaller file.
Is OCR free?
Flint's OCR is free in the browser. For specialised needs (rare languages, very high accuracy), paid tools may help.
Text extraction is the gateway to translation, analysis, and reuse. Use Flint's PDF to Word converter for the cleanest output.