The Simple Rule: Digital PDF or Scanned PDF?
There are two fundamentally different types of PDF files, and the type you have determines which tool you need:
- 1.Digital PDF — created by software (Word, Excel, a website, an email client). The text is stored as actual character data inside the file. You can click and select words. Use PDF to TXT.
- 2.Scanned PDF — created by scanning a paper document with a printer, scanner, or phone camera. Pages are stored as images. There is no text data inside the file — only pixels. Use OCR Scanner.
The fastest way to check: open the PDF, click on a word, and try to drag to select it. If you can highlight individual words like in a Word document, you have a digital PDF. If clicking selects the entire page like an image, you have a scanned PDF.
How to Choose the Right Tool (Step by Step)
Test whether your PDF has selectable text
Open your PDF and try to click and drag over a word. If you can highlight individual words, the PDF is digital and you should use PDF to TXT. If you cannot select any text, the PDF is scanned and you need OCR.
Run the correct tool
For digital PDFs, go to PDF.it's PDF to TXT tool, upload your file, and download the extracted text in seconds. For scanned PDFs, go to PDF.it's OCR Scanner, upload your file, select the document language, and download the searchable or text-extracted result.
Verify the output
Open the output file and confirm the text is accurate and complete. For OCR output, spot-check a few paragraphs against the original scan. If accuracy is low, try improving scan quality or running Phone Scan Cleanup before OCR.
OCR vs PDF to Text: Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | OCR Scanner | PDF to TXT |
|---|---|---|
| Works on | Scanned PDFs, image-only PDFs, photos of documents | Digital PDFs with embedded text data |
| What it does | Reads pixel patterns to recognize characters — converts image to text | Reads existing text data stored in the PDF file structure |
| Processing time | Slower — image analysis is computationally intensive | Very fast — text data is directly read from the file |
| Accuracy | 95–99% on clean scans; lower on blurry or low-res images | 100% — reads exactly what is stored in the file |
| Plan required | Pro ($3.99/month) | Pro ($3.99/month) |
Both tools are available on the Pro plan. If you are unsure which your PDF needs, try PDF to TXT first — if the output is empty or garbled, switch to OCR Scanner.
Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Running PDF to Text on a Scanned PDF
The most common mistake. You drag a scanned contract into PDF to TXT and get a file with nothing in it — or just a few characters from the file metadata. The fix is simple: run OCR Scanner first, then extract the text.
Running OCR on a Digital PDF
This is slower and can introduce errors. OCR treats each page as an image and re-reads the characters — but the PDF already has perfect text data. Use PDF to TXT instead and get 100% accurate output instantly.
Mixed PDFs — Part Digital, Part Scanned
Some PDFs combine digital pages with scanned attachments. Run OCR on the entire document first. PDF.it's OCR Scanner adds a text layer only to pages that need it, leaving digital pages unchanged. Then use PDF to TXT on the full document to extract everything.
Real-World Examples
- ✓Invoice received by email (PDF). This is almost always a digital PDF. Use PDF to TXT to extract amounts, dates, and vendor names for your accounting system.
- ✓Signed contract returned by fax or scanner. This is a scanned PDF. Run OCR Scanner so you can search, copy, and archive the text.
- ✓Research paper downloaded from a journal. Digital PDF. Use PDF to TXT to pull the text for note-taking, translation, or analysis.
- ✓Old receipt photographed with your phone. Image file converted to PDF — scanned. Run Phone Scan Cleanup first to improve quality, then OCR Scanner to extract the text.
- ✓Government form filled and saved as PDF. Likely digital if completed electronically. If it was printed, filled by hand, and scanned — it is a scanned PDF requiring OCR.