Extract emails from a PDF, in your browser
To extract emails from a PDF, drop the file into the box. The tool reads its text layer page by page in your browser, pulls out every address, including ones that only exist as mailto: links, and lists each once with the page it first appears on. Download a CSV or copy the list. Scanned PDFs without text are flagged.
Sample result
2 unique emails found across all 6 pages of the PDF.
- Unique emails
- 2
- Times found
- 4
- Pages read
- 6 of 6
What this means for you
Turn a brochure, directory or report into a list you can copy or download.
- Every page of the PDF is read
- Picks up mailto links, not just text
- First page number for each address
- Copy one per line or ; separated
- Extract
- CSV
By SimpleVerifier Team · Last updated · Runs in your browser; nothing you paste is sent to us
How to extract emails from a PDF
- Choose the PDF. Attendee lists, member directories, brochures and exported reports all work if the text can be selected in a PDF viewer. Files can be up to 25 MB.
- Press Extract emails. Each page is read in turn; a large file shows its progress.
- Check the page column to see where each address came from. Addresses marked "(link)" were only in a clickable mailto link.
- Download the CSV or copy the list, one per line or semicolon-separated for Outlook.
Example
- You enter
- A 6-page PDF that mentions
jane@acme.examplethree times and hassales@yourcompany.exampleonly as a mailto link on page 4. - You get
- 2 unique addresses with the first page and count for each: jane@acme.example (page 1, 3 times) and sales@yourcompany.example (page 4, 1 time, from a link only).
- Limits
- The PDF is read in your browser and nothing is uploaded; files can be up to 25 MB, and scanned pages with no selectable text yield nothing.
How does it extract email addresses from a PDF?
It reads the PDF's text layer and its links in your browser, then finds every address-shaped string. The page loads Mozilla's open-source pdf.js, the same engine Firefox uses to show PDFs, only when you choose a file. It reads each page's text, rebuilds the lines from where each piece of text sits, and finds addresses with the same rules as our email extractor, including written-out forms like jane [at] acme [dot] com. It also reads link annotations, because many PDFs show a name or "Email us" while the address itself is only in the mailto: link behind it.
PDFs often store text in fragments, so jane@ and acme.com can be two separate runs. Joining them by position, rather than putting a space between every fragment, keeps those addresses whole. Addresses are lowercased and merged, so one that appears on every page of a directory is listed once with a count.
Why can't I extract emails from my PDF?
Usually because it is scanned: the pages are pictures, with no characters to read. The tool tells you how many pages had no text layer. To use them, run the PDF through OCR first, with Adobe Acrobat's Recognize Text or Live Text in macOS Preview, then paste the recognised text into the box. Password-protected PDFs are encrypted and need the password removed first; the tool says so instead of failing silently.
If the PDF is really a spreadsheet export, the original file is usually better: extract emails from Excel keeps the column each address came from. For text from anywhere else, paste it into the email extractor.
Can I email everyone I extract from a PDF?
Not automatically: check the addresses still work, and that you are allowed to contact them. A PDF directory or attendee list is a snapshot from the day it was made, and contact data decays as people change jobs. Some of these addresses will already be dead, and sending to them raises your bounce rate. Check which ones still exist before you import them.
Being able to extract an address also doesn't make it yours to market to. Attendee and member lists are usually shared for a specific purpose, and laws such as GDPR in the UK and EU and CAN-SPAM in the US set rules on how you can contact people. Our guides to GDPR and B2B cold email and CAN-SPAM cover the basics.
Is this better than copying text out of the PDF?
| This tool | Copy and paste from a PDF viewer | |
|---|---|---|
| Addresses only behind a mailto link | Found and marked "(link)" | Missed, links don't copy |
| Addresses split across text fragments | Joined by position | Often broken by spaces or line breaks |
| Repeats across pages | Merged, with a count | You dedupe by hand |
| Which page each address is on | Shown | Not tracked |
| Scanned pages | Counted and flagged | Nothing to copy |
Who uses this tool, and for what?
- Marketers
- Turn a sponsor pack or exhibitor brochure into a list of contact addresses with the page each came from, then check them with the email verifier before any outreach.
- Recruiters
- Pull candidate and referee addresses out of a stack of PDF CVs or a job-fair booklet, and copy them semicolon-separated straight into Outlook's Bcc field.
- Sales ops
- Extract a member directory or association list shared as a PDF into a CSV, then remove duplicates against what's already in the CRM.
- Agencies
- Clients often send old lists as PDF reports. Extract once and hand back a deduplicated CSV, with addresses found only in mailto links marked so nothing is missed.
What can’t this tool tell you?
- Scanned PDFs have no text to read. You need OCR first, and OCR can misread characters like
land1in addresses. - Password-protected PDFs can't be opened until the password is removed.
- It reads one PDF at a time, and not the files embedded in a PDF portfolio.
- An extracted address is well formed, not proven to work. The mailbox may no longer exist.
Common questions
- How do I extract email addresses from a PDF?
- Choose the PDF above and press Extract emails. Every page's text and every mailto link is scanned, each address is listed once with the page it's on, and you can download them as CSV or copy them.
- Can I extract emails from a PDF online for free?
- Yes. This free tool runs in your browser, so the PDF is read on your device rather than uploaded. There is no sign-up and no page limit beyond what your device can open.
- How do I extract an email ID from a PDF without copying it by hand?
- Drop the PDF here and every address, or email ID, is pulled out at once. Copying by hand from a PDF viewer often breaks addresses across lines and misses ones that are only behind a link.
- Can it extract emails from a PDF portfolio?
- Not from the files inside it. A PDF portfolio is a container of embedded documents, and this tool reads the pages of the PDF you open. Extract the files from the portfolio in Acrobat first, then drop each one in.
- Is my PDF uploaded to your server?
- No. The PDF is read in your browser with pdf.js, the open-source library behind Firefox's PDF viewer. Nothing in the file is sent to us.
- Why didn't it find any emails in my PDF?
- Most often because the PDF is scanned: its pages are images with no text layer. The tool tells you when that's the case. Run it through OCR, for example Recognize Text in Adobe Acrobat, then paste the text in.
- Can it read password-protected PDFs?
- No. They're encrypted until the password is entered. Open the file, save or print a copy without the password, and use that.
- Does it find emails hidden behind links?
- Yes. It reads the PDF's link annotations as well as its text, so an address that only exists as a mailto link behind a button or a name is found and marked as "(link)".
Sources
A tidy list can still be full of dead addresses.
Extracting, deduplicating and syntax checks all work on the text of an address. None of them can tell whether the mailbox exists. Only the server that hosts it can answer that, through an SMTP check, and that is what the paid product does.
- Upload the cleaned file as it is: CSVs up to 100,000 rows
- A real SMTP mailbox check on every row, with catch-all detection
- Small list? $9 one-time covers 2,500 emails, no subscription
One plan, cancel anytime, no contract. Sign in with Google and your first 100 email checks are free, no card. The free tools stay free either way.