Text to PDF converter
Paste or type your text, choose the page size and font, and press Make PDF. Long lines wrap and the text flows across as many pages as it needs.
Free · no signup Runs in your browser
How do I convert text to a PDF?
Paste or type your text in the box, pick the page size (Letter, A4 or Legal), the font, the size and the margins, and press Make PDF. The text wraps to the page width and flows onto new pages, with optional page numbers and a title. The PDF is made in your browser and downloaded at once; your text is never uploaded.
Why we built this tool
Plain text is the simplest way to write, but it is not always welcome: an application portal wants a PDF, a note must be sent in a form that cannot be edited by accident, or you want a tidy printable copy of meeting notes, a recipe, a letter or a script. Word processors can export a PDF, but that means opening one, and online converters tend to upload your text. This tool turns plain text into a neat PDF in your browser, with sensible page layout and no formatting to fight with.
Your text is turned into a PDF in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no watermark.
How it works in detail
The tool measures your text with the real metrics of the font you choose (Helvetica, Times or Courier, which every PDF reader has built in), so each line is broken at the right place, never in the middle of a word unless the word is wider than the page. It starts a new page when the next line would cross the bottom margin, and keeps blank lines you typed as blank lines. Tabs become four spaces. The page size is set in points (1 point is 1/72 inch): Letter is 612 × 792, A4 is 595 × 842 and Legal is 612 × 1008. The file is built with pdf-lib and the text is real text, so it can be selected, searched and copied from the PDF.
The built-in fonts support Western European characters, so English, French, Spanish and similar text, including accents and common punctuation, is fine. Characters outside that set, such as emoji or Chinese, cannot be drawn with these fonts; the tool replaces them with a question mark and tells you how many it replaced.
How to use it
- Paste or type your text. Keep line breaks where you want them; long lines wrap by themselves.
- Choose the page size. Letter is standard in Canada and the United States; A4 is used elsewhere.
- Pick the font (Helvetica for modern, Times for a letter or an essay, Courier for code and fixed-width text), the size and the margins. 12 point with 1-inch (72 point) margins is a good default.
- Add an optional title and page numbers, and a file name.
- Press Make PDF and open the file to check it.
Use cases
- Submitting text as a PDF to an application, portal or school
- Saving notes, a recipe, a script or a log as a fixed document
- Printing a clean copy of plain text
- Sending a letter or message in a form that cannot be edited by accident
- Turning code or a text file into a printable page
- Making a quick PDF when no word processor is handy
Problems you may run into
Most issues are about characters and layout.
| What you see | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Question marks appear in the PDF | The text has emoji or characters outside Western European alphabets | Remove them, or use a tool that embeds a full Unicode font |
| The lines look too wide or too narrow | Margins or font size need changing | Increase the margin or the size; Courier makes wider lines |
| Columns of text do not line up | A proportional font (Helvetica, Times) was chosen | Use Courier for text that depends on alignment |
| I want bold, headings or pictures | This tool makes plain text only | Use a word processor, or the image to PDF tool for pictures |
| The file is large | Very long text | A text PDF is usually small; very long documents have many pages |
How it works
Your PDF is read and rewritten in your browser.
1. Your text is cleaned: line endings are unified, tabs become spaces and unsupported characters become '?'.2. Each line is measured with the real font widths and broken to fit between the margins.3. Lines are drawn from the top; when the bottom margin is reached a new page starts; page numbers go at the foot.4. The PDF is built with pdf-lib and downloaded. Nothing is uploaded.
Fonts are the standard PDF fonts Helvetica, Times Roman and Courier, which are built in to PDF readers and use WinAnsi encoding (Western European). Page sizes: Letter 612 × 792 pt, A4 595.28 × 841.89 pt, Legal 612 × 1008 pt. Line height is the font size times the spacing you choose.
Example: a one-page letter
You type a 250-word letter and want a PDF.
- SettingsLetter, Times, 12 point, 1-inch margins
- LayoutAbout 46 lines of about 88 characters fit on a page
A one-page PDF of about 2 KB
Add a title for a heading line.
Terms on this page
- Point
- A unit of type and page measure: 1/72 of an inch.
- WinAnsi
- The Western European character set used by the standard PDF fonts.
Common questions
Is it free, and is my text uploaded?
It is free, and your text is converted in your browser and never uploaded.
Can I choose A4 or Letter?
Yes, and Legal. Letter is standard in Canada.
Can I add page numbers?
Yes, tick the box. They appear at the foot of each page.
Why do I see question marks?
Emoji and non-Western alphabets cannot be drawn with the built-in fonts.
Can I use bold or add pictures?
Not with this tool, which makes plain text. Use the image to PDF tool to put pictures in a PDF.
Is the text selectable in the PDF?
Yes. It is real text, not a picture.
Is anything I enter sent to a server?
No. The calculation happens in your browser and nothing you type leaves your device.
What to work out next
Where these numbers come from
- Adobe — PDF 32000-1:2008 (ISO 32000-1), the PDF specification How a PDF stores pages, page rotation (/Rotate), fonts, images and the document information dictionary.
- pdf-lib — create and modify PDF documents in JavaScript The MIT-licensed library used to copy, rotate and draw on pages (version 1.17.1 is included in this site).
Last verified 2026-10-25 The method on this page is checked against the sources above at least once a year. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will fix it.
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