How to Extract Phone Numbers from a PDF

To extract phone numbers from a PDF, choose the file, pick the default country for numbers written without a + code, and run the extractor. The extract phone numbers from PDF tool reads each page in your browser, matches numbers against each country's numbering plan so dates and prices are skipped, and lists each number once in E.164 with the page it was found on.

The text has to be selectable in a PDF viewer. A scanned image has no digits to read.

Why pull numbers out of a PDF

Directories, event handouts, exported reports and contact sheets often exist only as PDFs. Copying numbers by hand is slow, and a straight text copy mixes them with dates, prices and page numbers.

The by-hand way

1. Open the PDF and try to select a line of text. If you cannot, it is a scan.
2. Select all, copy, and paste into a plain text file.
3. Use a phone number extractor or a pattern search to pull digit groups.
4. Remove repeats and anything that is not a phone number.

Pasted PDF text often breaks lines in odd places, which splits numbers. The phone number extractor handles pasted text.

Step 1: choose the PDF

Choose the PDF, up to 25 MB. A directory, a brochure, an exported report or a contact sheet all work if the text is selectable.

Step 2: pick the default country

Numbers written with a + and a country code are read as written. The rest are read as numbers in this country.

Step 3: extract and download

Press Extract phone numbers. Check the First found column for the page, then download the CSV or copy the E.164 list.

To format or validate the numbers after extraction, use the phone number formatter.

What this check cannot do

• Scanned PDFs need OCR first, for example Acrobat's Recognize Text or Live Text in macOS Preview.
• A local number written without a country code is read in the country you choose, so pick it carefully.
• Numbers that fit no allocated range are skipped.
• Valid does not mean connected, and it does not say mobile or landline.

For what a valid result does and does not mean, see validate phone numbers in Excel.

Next: check the list itself

Extracted numbers are only digits that fit a plan. Before you call or text, validate them. Validate the list with the bulk phone number validator before you call or text, and for email addresses in the same file, the first 100 checks on the verify page are free with a Google sign-in, no card. See pricing for larger lists.

Try it now

Drop your PDF into the extract phone numbers from PDF tool.