PDF to Text (Simple)

Extract plain text from PDF documents using a fast, low-credit method without OCR, layout analysis, or profile-based fine-tuning.

Try it live: PDF to Text (Simple) → API Tester — send a real request from your browser.

POST /v1/pdf/convert/to/text-simple

Auto classification Of incoming documents: Use the Document Classifier endpoint to automatically sort/detect the class of the document based on keywords-based rules. For example, you can define rules to find which vendor provided the document to find which template to apply accordingly.

Attributes

Attributes are case-sensitive and should be inside JSON for POST request. for example: { "url": "https://example.com/file1.pdf" }

Attribute	Type	Required	Default	Description
url	string	Yes	-	URL to the source file url attribute
callback	string	No	-	The callback URL (or Webhook) used to receive the POST data. see Webhooks & Callbacks. This is only applicable when async is set to true.
httpusername	string	No	-	HTTP auth user name if required to access source URL.
httppassword	string	No	-	HTTP auth password if required to access source URL.
pages	string	No	all pages	Specify page indices as comma-separated values or ranges to process (e.g. “0, 1, 2-” or “1, 2, 3-7”). The first-page index is 0. Use ”!” before a number for inverted page numbers (e.g. “!0” for the last page). If not specified, the default configuration processes all pages. The input must be in string format.
inline	boolean	No	false	Set to true to return results inside the response. Otherwise, the endpoint will return a URL to the output file generated.
password	string	No	-	Password for the PDF file.
async	boolean	No	false	Set async to true for long processes to run in the background, API will then return a jobId which you can use with the Background Job Check endpoint. Also see Webhooks & Callbacks

Query parameters

No query parameters accepted.

Responses

Parameter	Type	Description
url	string	Direct URL to the final PDF file stored in S3.
outputLinkValidTill	string	Timestamp indicating when the output link will expire
pageCount	integer	Number of pages in the PDF document.
error	boolean	Indicates whether an error occurred (false means success)
status	string	Status code of the request (200, 404, 500, etc.). For more information, see Response Codes.
name	string	Name of the output file
credits	integer	Number of credits consumed by the request
remainingCredits	integer	Number of credits remaining in the account
duration	integer	Time taken for the operation in milliseconds

Example Payload

To see the request size limits, please refer to the Request Size Limits.

{
  "url": "https://pdfco-test-files.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pdf-to-text-simple/sample.pdf",
  "inline": true,
  "async": false
}

Example Response

To see the main response codes, please refer to the Response Codes page.

{
  "body": "Your Company Name \r\nYour Address \r\nCity, State Zip \r\nInvoice No. 123456 \r\nInvoice Date 01/01/2016 \r\nClient Name \r\nAddress \r\nCity, State Zip \r\nNotes \r\nItem Quantity Price Total \r\nItem 1 1 40.00 40.00 \r\nItem 2 2 30.00 60.00 \r\nItem 3 3 20.00 60.00 \r\nItem 4 4 10.00 40.00 \r\nTOTAL 200.00 \r\n",
  "pageCount": 1,
  "error": false,
  "status": 200,
  "name": "sample.txt",
  "remainingCredits": 99885491,
  "credits": 2
}

Inconsistent URL Encoding in cURL Output: When using cURL to make API requests, the output JSON may show URL characters encoded as Unicode escape sequences. For example, the ampersand character (&) may appear as \u0026 in the cURL output. This is normal JSON encoding behavior and does not affect the validity of the URL. The URL will function correctly when used, as JSON parsers automatically decode these escape sequences. If you’re parsing the response programmatically, your JSON parser will handle this conversion automatically.

Code Samples

CURL

curl --location --request POST 'https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/convert/to/text-simple' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--header 'x-api-key: *******************' \
--data-raw '{
"url": "https://pdfco-test-files.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pdf-to-text/sample.pdf",
"inline": true,
"async": false
}'

JavaScript/Node.js

var https = require("https");
var path = require("path");
var fs = require("fs");

// `request` module is required for file upload.
// Use "npm install request" command to install.
var request = require("request");

// The authentication key (API Key).
// Get your own by registering at https://app.pdf.co
const API_KEY = "***********************************";

// Source PDF file
const SourceFile = "./sample.pdf";
// Comma-separated list of page indices (or ranges) to process. Leave empty for all pages. Example: '0,2-5,7-'.
const Pages = "";
// PDF document password. Leave empty for unprotected documents.
const Password = "";


// 1. RETRIEVE PRESIGNED URL TO UPLOAD FILE.
getPresignedUrl(API_KEY, SourceFile)
    .then(([uploadUrl, uploadedFileUrl]) => {
        // 2. UPLOAD THE FILE TO CLOUD.
        uploadFile(API_KEY, SourceFile, uploadUrl)
            .then(() => {
                // 3. CONVERT UPLOADED PDF FILE TO TEXT
                convertPdfToText(API_KEY, uploadedFileUrl, Password, Pages, SourceFile);
            })
            .catch(e => {
                console.log(e);
            });
    })
    .catch(e => {
        console.log(e);
    });


function getPresignedUrl(apiKey, localFile) {
    return new Promise(resolve => {
        // Prepare request to `Get Presigned URL` API endpoint
        let queryPath = `/v1/file/upload/get-presigned-url?contenttype=application/octet-stream&name=${path.basename(localFile)}`;
        let reqOptions = {
            host: "api.pdf.co",
            path: encodeURI(queryPath),
            headers: { "x-api-key": API_KEY }
        };
        // Send request
        https.get(reqOptions, (response) => {
            response.on("data", (d) => {
                let data = JSON.parse(d);
                if (data.error == false) {
                    // Return presigned url we received
                    resolve([data.presignedUrl, data.url]);
                }
                else {
                    // Service reported error
                    console.log("getPresignedUrl(): " + data.message);
                }
            });
        })
            .on("error", (e) => {
                // Request error
                console.log("getPresignedUrl(): " + e);
            });
    });
}

function uploadFile(apiKey, localFile, uploadUrl) {
    return new Promise(resolve => {
        fs.readFile(localFile, (err, data) => {
            request({
                method: "PUT",
                url: uploadUrl,
                body: data,
                headers: {
                    "Content-Type": "application/octet-stream"
                }
            }, (err, res, body) => {
                if (!err) {
                    resolve();
                }
                else {
                    console.log("uploadFile() request error: " + e);
                }
            });
        });
    });
}

function convertPdfToText(apiKey, uploadedFileUrl, password, pages, destinationFile) {
    // Prepare request to `PDF To Text` API endpoint
    var queryPath = `/v1/pdf/convert/to/text`;

    // JSON payload for api request
    var jsonPayload = JSON.stringify({
        name: path.basename(destinationFile), password: password, pages: pages, url: uploadedFileUrl
    });

    var reqOptions = {
        host: "api.pdf.co",
        method: "POST",
        path: queryPath,
        headers: {
            "x-api-key": apiKey,
            "Content-Type": "application/json",
            "Content-Length": Buffer.byteLength(jsonPayload, 'utf8')
        }
    };
    // Send request
    var postRequest = https.request(reqOptions, (response) => {
        response.on("data", (d) => {
            response.setEncoding("utf8");
            // Parse JSON response
            let data = JSON.parse(d);
            if (data.error == false) {
                // Download TXT file
                var file = fs.createWriteStream(destinationFile);
                https.get(data.url, (response2) => {
                    response2.pipe(file)
                        .on("close", () => {
                            console.log(`Generated TXT file saved as "${destinationFile}" file.`);
                        });
                });
            }
            else {
                // Service reported error
                console.log("convertPdfToText(): " + data.message);
            }
        });
    })
        .on("error", (e) => {
            // Request error
            console.log("convertPdfToText(): " + e);
        });

    // Write request data
    postRequest.write(jsonPayload);
    postRequest.end();

}

Python

import os
import requests # pip install requests

# The authentication key (API Key).
# Get your own by registering at https://app.pdf.co
API_KEY = "******************************************"

# Base URL for PDF.co Web API requests
BASE_URL = "https://api.pdf.co/v1"

# Source PDF file
SourceFile = ".\\sample.pdf"
# Comma-separated list of page indices (or ranges) to process. Leave empty for all pages. Example: '0,2-5,7-'.
Pages = ""
# PDF document password. Leave empty for unprotected documents.
Password = ""
# Destination TXT file name
DestinationFile = ".\\result.txt"


def main(args = None):
    uploadedFileUrl = uploadFile(SourceFile)
    if (uploadedFileUrl != None):
        convertPdfToText(uploadedFileUrl, DestinationFile)


def convertPdfToText(uploadedFileUrl, destinationFile):
    """Converts PDF To Text using PDF.co Web API"""

    # Prepare requests params as JSON
    # See documentation: https://docs.pdf.co/api-reference/pdf-to-text/simple
    parameters = {}
    parameters["name"] = os.path.basename(destinationFile)
    parameters["password"] = Password
    parameters["pages"] = Pages
    parameters["url"] = uploadedFileUrl

    # Prepare URL for 'PDF To Text' API request
    url = "{}/pdf/convert/to/text".format(BASE_URL)

    # Execute request and get response as JSON
    response = requests.post(url, data=parameters, headers={ "x-api-key": API_KEY })
    if (response.status_code == 200):
        json = response.json()

        if json["error"] == False:
            #  Get URL of result file
            resultFileUrl = json["url"]
            # Download result file
            r = requests.get(resultFileUrl, stream=True)
            if (r.status_code == 200):
                with open(destinationFile, 'wb') as file:
                    for chunk in r:
                        file.write(chunk)
                print(f"Result file saved as "{destinationFile}" file.")
            else:
                print(f"Request error: {response.status_code} {response.reason}")
        else:
            # Show service reported error
            print(json["message"])
    else:
        print(f"Request error: {response.status_code} {response.reason}")


def uploadFile(fileName):
    """Uploads file to the cloud"""

    # 1. RETRIEVE PRESIGNED URL TO UPLOAD FILE.

    # Prepare URL for 'Get Presigned URL' API request
    url = "{}/file/upload/get-presigned-url?contenttype=application/octet-stream&name={}".format(
        BASE_URL, os.path.basename(fileName))

    # Execute request and get response as JSON
    response = requests.get(url, headers={ "x-api-key": API_KEY })
    if (response.status_code == 200):
        json = response.json()

        if json["error"] == False:
            # URL to use for file upload
            uploadUrl = json["presignedUrl"]
            # URL for future reference
            uploadedFileUrl = json["url"]

            # 2. UPLOAD FILE TO CLOUD.
            with open(fileName, 'rb') as file:
                requests.put(uploadUrl, data=file, headers={ "x-api-key": API_KEY, "content-type": "application/octet-stream" })

            return uploadedFileUrl
        else:
            # Show service reported error
            print(json["message"])
    else:
        print(f"Request error: {response.status_code} {response.reason}")

    return None


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

C#

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System.Net;
using Newtonsoft.Json;
using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;

namespace PDFcoApiExample
{
  class Program
  {
    // The authentication key (API Key).
    // Get your own by registering at https://app.pdf.co
    const String API_KEY = "***********************************";

    // Source PDF file
    const string SourceFile = @".\sample.pdf";
    // Comma-separated list of page indices (or ranges) to process. Leave empty for all pages. Example: '0,2-5,7-'.
    const string Pages = "";
    // PDF document password. Leave empty for unprotected documents.
    const string Password = "";
    // Destination TXT file name
    const string DestinationFile = @".\result.txt";

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
      // Create standard .NET web client instance
      WebClient webClient = new WebClient();

      // Set API Key
      webClient.Headers.Add("x-api-key", API_KEY);

      // 1. RETRIEVE THE PRESIGNED URL TO UPLOAD THE FILE.
      // * If you already have a direct file URL, skip to the step 3.

      // Prepare URL for `Get Presigned URL` API call
      string query = Uri.EscapeUriString(string.Format(
        "https://api.pdf.co/v1/file/upload/get-presigned-url?contenttype=application/octet-stream&name={0}",
        Path.GetFileName(SourceFile)));

      try
      {
        // Execute request
        string response = webClient.DownloadString(query);

        // Parse JSON response
        JObject json = JObject.Parse(response);

        if (json["error"].ToObject<bool>() == false)
        {
          // Get URL to use for the file upload
          string uploadUrl = json["presignedUrl"].ToString();
          string uploadedFileUrl = json["url"].ToString();

          // 2. UPLOAD THE FILE TO CLOUD.

          webClient.Headers.Add("content-type", "application/octet-stream");
          webClient.UploadFile(uploadUrl, "PUT", SourceFile); // You can use UploadData() instead if your file is byte[] or Stream
          webClient.Headers.Remove("content-type");

          // 3. CONVERT UPLOADED PDF FILE TO TXT

          // URL for `PDF To TXT` API call
          var url = "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/convert/to/text";

          // Prepare requests params as JSON
          Dictionary<string, object> parameters = new Dictionary<string, object>();
          parameters.Add("name", Path.GetFileName(DestinationFile));
          parameters.Add("password", Password);
          parameters.Add("pages", Pages);
          parameters.Add("url", uploadedFileUrl);

          // Convert dictionary of params to JSON
          string jsonPayload = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(parameters);

          // Execute POST request with JSON payload
          response = webClient.UploadString(url, jsonPayload);

          // Parse JSON response
          json = JObject.Parse(response);

          if (json["error"].ToObject<bool>() == false)
          {
            // Get URL of generated TXT file
            string resultFileUrl = json["url"].ToString();

            // Download TXT file
            webClient.DownloadFile(resultFileUrl, DestinationFile);

            Console.WriteLine("Generated TXT file saved as "{0}" file.", DestinationFile);
          }
          else
          {
            Console.WriteLine(json["message"].ToString());
          }
        }
        else
        {
          Console.WriteLine(json["message"].ToString());
        }
      }
      catch (WebException e)
      {
        Console.WriteLine(e.ToString());
      }

      webClient.Dispose();

      Console.WriteLine();
      Console.WriteLine("Press any key...");
      Console.ReadKey();
    }
  }
}

Java

package com.company;

import com.google.gson.JsonObject;
import com.google.gson.JsonParser;
import okhttp3.*;

import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
import java.nio.file.Path;
import java.nio.file.Paths;

public class Main
{
    // The authentication key (API Key).
    // Get your own by registering at https://app.pdf.co
    final static String API_KEY = "***********************************";

    // Source PDF file
    final static Path SourceFile = Paths.get(".\\sample.pdf");
    // Comma-separated list of page indices (or ranges) to process. Leave empty for all pages. Example: '0,2-5,7-'.
    final static String Pages = "";
    // PDF document password. Leave empty for unprotected documents.
    final static String Password = "";
    // Destination TXT file name
    final static Path DestinationFile = Paths.get(".\\result.txt");


    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException
    {
        // Create HTTP client instance
        OkHttpClient webClient = new OkHttpClient();

        // 1. RETRIEVE THE PRESIGNED URL TO UPLOAD THE FILE.
        // * If you already have a direct file URL, skip to the step 3.

        // Prepare URL for `Get Presigned URL` API call
        String query = String.format(
                "https://api.pdf.co/v1/file/upload/get-presigned-url?contenttype=application/octet-stream&name=%s",
                SourceFile.getFileName());

        // Make correctly escaped (encoded) URL
        URL url = null;
        try
        {
            url = new URI(null, query, null).toURL();
        }
        catch (URISyntaxException e)
        {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

        // Prepare request
        Request request = new Request.Builder()
                .url(url)
                .addHeader("x-api-key", API_KEY) // (!) Set API Key
                .build();

        // Execute request
        Response response = webClient.newCall(request).execute();

        if (response.code() == 200)
        {
            // Parse JSON response
            JsonObject json = new JsonParser().parse(response.body().string()).getAsJsonObject();

            boolean error = json.get("error").getAsBoolean();
            if (!error)
            {
                // Get URL to use for the file upload
                String uploadUrl = json.get("presignedUrl").getAsString();
                // Get URL of uploaded file to use with later API calls
                String uploadedFileUrl = json.get("url").getAsString();

                // 2. UPLOAD THE FILE TO CLOUD.

                if (uploadFile(webClient, API_KEY, uploadUrl, SourceFile))
                {
                    // 3. CONVERT UPLOADED PDF FILE TO TXT

                    PdfToText(webClient, API_KEY, DestinationFile, Password, Pages, uploadedFileUrl);
                }
            }
            else
            {
                // Display service reported error
                System.out.println(json.get("message").getAsString());
            }
        }
        else
        {
            // Display request error
            System.out.println(response.code() + " " + response.message());
        }
    }

    public static void PdfToText(OkHttpClient webClient, String apiKey, Path destinationFile,
        String password, String pages, String uploadedFileUrl) throws IOException
    {
        // Prepare URL for `PDF To TXT` API call
        String query = "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/convert/to/text";

        // Make correctly escaped (encoded) URL
        URL url = null;
        try
        {
            url = new URI(null, query, null).toURL();
        }
        catch (URISyntaxException e)
        {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

        // Create JSON payload
    String jsonPayload = String.format("{\"name\": \"%s\", \"password\": \"%s\", \"pages\": \"%s\", \"url\": \"%s\"}",
                destinationFile.getFileName(),
                password,
                pages,
                uploadedFileUrl);

        // Prepare request body
        RequestBody body = RequestBody.create(MediaType.parse("application/json"), jsonPayload);

        // Prepare request
        Request request = new Request.Builder()
            .url(url)
            .addHeader("x-api-key", API_KEY) // (!) Set API Key
            .addHeader("Content-Type", "application/json")
            .post(body)
            .build();

        // Execute request
        Response response = webClient.newCall(request).execute();


        if (response.code() == 200)
        {
            // Parse JSON response
            JsonObject json = new JsonParser().parse(response.body().string()).getAsJsonObject();

            boolean error = json.get("error").getAsBoolean();
            if (!error)
            {
                // Get URL of generated TXT file
                String resultFileUrl = json.get("url").getAsString();

                // Download TXT file
                downloadFile(webClient, resultFileUrl, destinationFile.toFile());

                System.out.printf("Generated TXT file saved as \"%s\" file.", destinationFile.toString());
            }
            else
            {
                // Display service reported error
                System.out.println(json.get("message").getAsString());
            }
        }
        else
        {
            // Display request error
            System.out.println(response.code() + " " + response.message());
        }
    }

    public static boolean uploadFile(OkHttpClient webClient, String apiKey, String url, Path sourceFile) throws IOException
    {
        // Prepare request body
        RequestBody body = RequestBody.create(MediaType.parse("application/octet-stream"), sourceFile.toFile());

        // Prepare request
        Request request = new Request.Builder()
                .url(url)
                .addHeader("x-api-key", apiKey) // (!) Set API Key
                .addHeader("content-type", "application/octet-stream")
                .put(body)
                .build();

        // Execute request
        Response response = webClient.newCall(request).execute();

        return (response.code() == 200);
    }

    public static void downloadFile(OkHttpClient webClient, String url, File destinationFile) throws IOException
    {
        // Prepare request
        Request request = new Request.Builder()
                .url(url)
                .build();
        // Execute request
        Response response = webClient.newCall(request).execute();

        byte[] fileBytes = response.body().bytes();

        // Save downloaded bytes to file
        OutputStream output = new FileOutputStream(destinationFile);
        output.write(fileBytes);
        output.flush();
        output.close();

        response.close();
    }
}

PHP

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>PDF To Text Extraction Results</title>
</head>
<body>

<?php
// Note: If you have input files large than 200kb we highly recommend to check "async" mode example.

// Get submitted form data
$apiKey = $_POST["apiKey"]; // The authentication key (API Key). Get your own by registering at https://app.pdf.co
$pages = $_POST["pages"];


// 1. RETRIEVE THE PRESIGNED URL TO UPLOAD THE FILE.
// * If you already have the direct PDF file link, go to the step 3.

// Create URL
$url = "https://api.pdf.co/v1/file/upload/get-presigned-url" .
    "?name=" . urlencode($_FILES["file"]["name"]) .
    "&contenttype=application/octet-stream";

// Create request
$curl = curl_init();
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array("x-api-key: " . $apiKey));
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
// Execute request
$result = curl_exec($curl);

if (curl_errno($curl) == 0)
{
    $status_code = curl_getinfo($curl, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);

    if ($status_code == 200)
    {
        $json = json_decode($result, true);

        // Get URL to use for the file upload
        $uploadFileUrl = $json["presignedUrl"];
        // Get URL of uploaded file to use with later API calls
        $uploadedFileUrl = $json["url"];

        // 2. UPLOAD THE FILE TO CLOUD.

        $localFile = $_FILES["file"]["tmp_name"];
        $fileHandle = fopen($localFile, "r");

        curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_URL, $uploadFileUrl);
        curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array("content-type: application/octet-stream"));
        curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_PUT, true);
        curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_INFILE, $fileHandle);
        curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_INFILESIZE, filesize($localFile));

        // Execute request
        curl_exec($curl);

        fclose($fileHandle);

        if (curl_errno($curl) == 0)
        {
            $status_code = curl_getinfo($curl, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);

            if ($status_code == 200)
            {
                // 3. CONVERT UPLOADED PDF FILE TO TEXT

                ExtractText($apiKey, $uploadedFileUrl, $pages);
            }
            else
            {
                // Display request error
                echo "<p>Status code: " . $status_code . "</p>";
                echo "<p>" . $result . "</p>";
            }
        }
        else
        {
            // Display CURL error
            echo "Error: " . curl_error($curl);
        }
    }
    else
    {
        // Display service reported error
        echo "<p>Status code: " . $status_code . "</p>";
        echo "<p>" . $result . "</p>";
    }

    curl_close($curl);
}
else
{
    // Display CURL error
    echo "Error: " . curl_error($curl);
}

function ExtractText($apiKey, $uploadedFileUrl, $pages)
{
    // Create URL
    $url = "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/convert/to/text";

    // Prepare requests params
    $parameters = array();
    $parameters["url"] = $uploadedFileUrl;
    $parameters["pages"] = $pages;

    // Create Json payload
    $data = json_encode($parameters);

    // Create request
    $curl = curl_init();
    curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array("x-api-key: " . $apiKey, "Content-type: application/json"));
    curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
    curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_POST, true);
    curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
    curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $data);

    // Execute request
    $result = curl_exec($curl);

    if (curl_errno($curl) == 0)
    {
        $status_code = curl_getinfo($curl, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);

        if ($status_code == 200)
        {
            $json = json_decode($result, true);

            if (!isset($json["error"]) || $json["error"] == false)
            {
                $resultFileUrl = $json["url"];

                // Display link to the file with conversion results
                echo "<div><h2>Conversion Result:</h2><a href='" . $resultFileUrl . "' target='_blank'>" . $resultFileUrl . "</a></div>";
            }
            else
            {
                // Display service reported error
                echo "<p>Error: " . $json["message"] . "</p>";
            }
        }
        else
        {
            // Display request error
            echo "<p>Status code: " . $status_code . "</p>";
            echo "<p>" . $result . "</p>";
        }
    }
    else
    {
        // Display CURL error
        echo "Error: " . curl_error($curl);
    }

    // Cleanup
    curl_close($curl);
}

?>

</body>
</html>