---
name: "pdf123-pdf-to-text"
description: "Convert a PDF into plain text or RTF. Runs the PDF123 \"PDF to RTF (Text)\" tool (pdf123.xyz) over its REST API with curl, no account needed. Use when the user wants this done to their file. Also known as: PDF 转文本, PDF a RTF (texto), PDF से RTF (पाठ), PDF إلى نص, PDF para RTF (texto), PDF ke RTF (teks), PDF vers RTF (texte), PDF в RTF (текст), PDFからテキスト, PDF in RTF, PDF를 텍스트로, PDF sang văn bản, PDF'den RTF'ye (metin), PDF 轉文字, PDF in RTF (testo), PDF เป็นข้อความ, PDF na RTF (tekst), PDF у RTF (текст), PDF naar RTF, PDF ke RTF (Teks), PDF till RTF, PDF σε RTF (κείμενο), PDF към RTF (текст), PDF a text, PDF kuwa RTF (maandishi)."
compatibility: "Needs curl 7.76+ and outbound HTTPS to pdf123.xyz, or PDFX_API_BASE pointing at a self-hosted pdfx-server."
---

# PDF to RTF (Text) (PDF123)

Convert a PDF into plain text or RTF.

Web version: https://pdf123.xyz/pdf-to-text · All tools: https://pdf123.xyz/skills/pdf123.md

## When to use

- Dump a text-layer report into grep or a script
- Get a rough RTF draft from a born-digital memo
- Check whether a PDF even has a text layer

## Run it

Replace the sample file names and values with the user's, then run:

```bash
API="${PDFX_API_BASE:-https://pdf123.xyz}"
curl -sS --fail-with-body -X POST "$API/api/v1/convert/pdf/text" \
  -F "fileInput=@input.pdf" \
  -F "outputFormat=txt" \
  --output-dir "pdf123-output/$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)" --create-dirs -OJ -w '%{filename_effective} %{content_type}\n'
```

## Inputs

Everything is `multipart/form-data`. The command above already sends each field with its default; keep them all and change only the values the user asked for, since some endpoints reject a missing optional field.

| Field | Type | Required | Default | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `fileInput` | file | yes | | .pdf (one file) |
| `outputFormat` | choice | no | `txt` | Output format. One of: `txt` (TXT), `rtf` (RTF) |

## Result

curl saves the result in a new `pdf123-output/<timestamp>/` directory under the server's file name and prints its path and content type. Several output files come back as one ZIP. Tell the user where the file is.

## Limits

- Not OCR; scans produce little or no text
- No page-range control
- Multi-column visual order is not reconstructed for TXT
- Upload limit on this website: 500 MB per file, sent in chunks above about 95 MB. A single direct API request body is capped at 100 MB.

## Errors

- A non-zero curl exit means the request failed. The saved file then holds `application/problem+json`; read it and report its `detail` to the user instead of retrying blindly.
- `413`: the upload exceeds 100 MiB. `429`: wait for `Retry-After` seconds, then retry once.
- Send `X-API-KEY: $PDFX_API_KEY` only if the user has a PDF123 API key; anonymous calls work without it.

## Privacy

Files are uploaded to the API host, processed, and deleted once the response is sent. For confidential files, ask before uploading, or use a self-hosted server via `PDFX_API_BASE`.