Convert PDF to text on iPhone

How to convert a PDF to text on iPhone

1. Open Scanfone and scan a document, or import an existing PDF or photo.
2. Save it. Text recognition (OCR) runs on your iPhone and reads the pages.
3. Open the document and choose Convert, then PDF to text.
4. Share the TXT file to another app, or save it to Files.
5. Need only a sentence? Select the text in the PDF and copy it instead.

Why convert a PDF to text?

PDFs are great for keeping a page looking exactly right. They are less great when you just want the words. Pasting text out of a PDF often brings strange line breaks, and a scanned PDF has no text at all, just a picture of the page.

A TXT file is the opposite: no layout, no fonts, just the text. It opens in every notes app and editor, is tiny in size and is easy to paste into an email, a translation tool, a spreadsheet or a ticket. Scanfone turns your PDFs into plain text for free.

It works on scanned PDFs too

Most online PDF to text converters only pull out text that is already in the file. Hand them a scanned letter and you get an empty document back. Scanfone runs text recognition (OCR) on your iPhone, so it can read the words in scans and photos as well.

That means you can scan a paper letter, a page from a book or a printed form with the camera and have it as text a few seconds later, without typing a single word yourself.

What people use PDF to text for

• Quoting and studying. Pull passages from a scanned book into your notes.
• Meeting notes. Turn a whiteboard scan into text you can paste into your team's notes.
• Forms and letters. Grab reference numbers, addresses and dates without retyping them.
• Translation. Paste clean text into your translation app of choice instead of a photo.
• Archiving. Keep a light, searchable text copy next to the original PDF.

PDF to text, Word or JPG?

Scanfone has a few ways to convert a document. Pick the one that fits the job:

No upload, no account, no paywall

Online converters ask you to upload your PDF to a website, which is a lot of trust to hand over for a bank statement or a contract. Scanfone does the scanning, the OCR and the conversion on your iPhone. Nothing is uploaded unless you turn on Pro sync, and there are no ads, no tracking and no analytics.

There is also no account to make and no paywall waiting at the export step. PDF to text is free and unlimited. Free PDFs that you save get one small line under each page that says "Scanned free with Scanfone"; the TXT file is just your text. If you want sync between your phones, a 1 TB cloud backup and Word or PowerPoint export, Scanfone Pro is $2.99 for the first year, then $19.99 a year, with no weekly plans.

Tips for clean text

• Scan in good light. Sharper scans mean fewer recognition mistakes.
• Use Gray or Black & white. High contrast filters help OCR read printed text.
• Check numbers and names. OCR is good but not perfect. Double check anything important, like amounts or account references.
• Split big files first. If you only need a few pages, split the PDF and convert just those.

More ways to convert