Extract, search, batch-export, and preview PDF text inside VS Code. Optional OCR from images (Tesseract) for scans when you export pages as PNG/JPEG.
Features
Area
What you get
Extract
Right-click a PDF or use the Command Palette; pick a file if nothing is selected. Opens a preview editor beside the current column.
Rich preview
Webview with live search and highlight (case-insensitive). Also available from the success notification and Explorer.
Save / copy
Save as .txt (with settings below), or copy full text to the clipboard.
Batch folder
Right-click a folder in the Explorer → Batch Extract Folder to .txt — writes one .txt per PDF (recursive optional).
Workspace search
Command Search Text in Workspace PDFs — extracts each PDF (up to a limit) and lists files containing your query; pick one to open rich preview.
Settings
lineEnding, encoding (UTF-8 / UTF-16 LE + BOM), optional page separators when the PDF uses form-feed breaks (\f), default output folder, batch recursive, search max files, OCR language, and offer OCR when extract is empty.
OCR (images)
Command OCR Text from Image(s) — Tesseract on PNG/JPEG/WebP/TIFF/BMP (multi-file). First run may download language data; keep network allowed if prompted.
Scanned PDFs
PDFs with no embedded text trigger an optional hint: try OCR from images (export pages as images) or see repo README.
Explorer
On a .pdf file
Extract Text (Preview)
Rich Preview (Search)
Extract Text to .txt File
Copy PDF Text to Clipboard
On a folder
Batch Extract Folder to .txt
Commands
Command ID
Title
pdfExtractor.extract
PDF Extractor Plus: Extract Text (Preview)
pdfExtractor.previewWebview
PDF Extractor Plus: Rich Preview (Search)
pdfExtractor.extractAndSave
PDF Extractor Plus: Extract Text to .txt File
pdfExtractor.copyExtracted
PDF Extractor Plus: Copy PDF Text to Clipboard
pdfExtractor.batchExtract
PDF Extractor Plus: Batch Extract Folder to .txt
pdfExtractor.searchWorkspacePdfs
PDF Extractor Plus: Search Text in Workspace PDFs
pdfExtractor.ocrFromImages
PDF Extractor Plus: OCR Text from Image(s)
Settings (pdfExtractor.*)
lineEnding: auto | lf | crlf
encoding: utf8 | utf16le
pageSeparatorEnabled / pageSeparatorTemplate: insert {n} between pages when \f breaks exist
defaultOutputFolder: absolute path for save dialog default and batch output
batchRecursive: include subfolders in batch
searchMaxFiles: cap for batch + workspace search (1–2000)
offerOcrWhenEmpty: show OCR hint when extract finds no text
ocrLanguage: Tesseract language code (e.g. eng)
Requirements
VS Code ^1.115.0
Workspace search and recursive batch need a folder opened in VS Code.
OCR: uses bundled Tesseract.js; first use of a language may require network for traineddata.
Known limitations
Native PDF OCR (rasterize each page inside the extension without system tools) is not shipped: canvas failed to build in many CI/desktop setups. Use image OCR for scans, or pre-process PDFs externally.
Workspace search and batch are CPU-heavy on huge trees; tune searchMaxFiles.
Layout-heavy PDFs may still have imperfect text order.
