TXT to PDF Converter
A plain text file has words but no pages. This converter gives your .txt notes, logs, transcripts and README files a fixed page size and margins, so they print, attach and archive the same way on every device.
Convert to PDF
or drop DOC, DOCX, DOCM … files here ·
Max 95 MB per file· Up to 20 files· Deleted after 30 minutes
Files are processed on our servers and deleted after 30 minutes.
Convert the whole document or only some pages, slides or sheets.
Pages or slides to keep, e.g. 1-3, 5, 8-10. Numbers refer to the original document.
Source margins keep the document's own layout. Narrow is 12.7 mm, normal 25.4 mm, wide 50.8 mm left and right.
Excel, ODS and Numbers files: convert every sheet, or only the one that was open when the file was saved.
JPEG quality for photos inside the document. 90 looks identical to the source; lower it to make the PDF smaller.
Leave empty for no password. If set, the PDF asks for it before opening. Not available with PDF/A.
How to use this tool
- 1
Drop in the .txt files
Drag one or more text files onto the upload box or choose them from a folder. You can add up to 20 at once, each as large as 95 MB.
- 2
Pick the paper
US Letter with normal (1 inch) margins is preselected. Switch Page size to A4 for European recipients, or open Advanced settings to change margins, choose PDF/A or set an Open password.
- 3
Convert and save
Press Convert to PDF. Every text file becomes its own PDF; when you uploaded several, a single ZIP holds them all.
What is the fastest way to convert TXT to PDF?
Upload the .txt file, keep US Letter with 1 inch margins or switch to A4, and press Convert to PDF. Your line breaks stay exactly where they are; long lines wrap at the margin.
Convert TXT to PDF without losing line breaks
Text files are the most portable documents there are, until someone has to print one or attach it to an application. Open the same .txt in Notepad, in TextEdit and in a phone's file viewer and you get three different line widths, three fonts and no page numbers at all. A PDF settles that: the page is a fixed rectangle and every line sits at a known position, so what you proofread is what the recipient sees.
The converter reads your file line by line. Hard returns become line breaks, blank lines become blank lines, and a line that is wider than the page wraps at the right margin rather than being cut off. Lists, aligned columns and log output keep their shape. If the text is really Markdown with headings and bullet syntax, the Markdown to PDF page renders that syntax instead of printing the symbols.
Page size and margins for a text file PDF
| Setting | Dimensions | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| US Letter | 8.5 × 11 in (215.9 × 279.4 mm) | Printing in the US and Canada, most US forms |
| A4 | 210 × 297 mm (ISO 216) | Printing almost everywhere else, EU and UK portals |
| US Legal | 8.5 × 14 in | Contracts and court documents in some US states |
| A5 | 148 × 210 mm | Booklets, pocket notes, e-reader friendly pages |
| Narrow margin | 12.7 mm (0.5 in) left and right | Wide log lines and code that should not wrap |
| Normal margin | 25.4 mm (1 in) left and right | Letters, essays, anything that gets printed |
| Wide margin | 50.8 mm (2 in) left and right | Space for handwritten notes or binding |
TXT
Plain text
A TXT file contains only plain characters with no formatting, fonts, images or layout. Modern text files are usually encoded in UTF-8, which covers every language, though older files may use other encodings and show garbled characters. Plain text is tiny, never becomes obsolete and opens on every device, from phones to servers. It cannot hold bold text, tables or pictures, so structure must be expressed with spacing or simple markup.
- Compression
- –
- Transparency
- –
- Animation
- –
- Introduced
- –
Portable Document Format
PDF was created by Adobe in 1993 and became the open ISO 32000 standard in 2008. It fixes text, fonts, images and layout so a document looks the same on every screen and printer. PDFs can contain forms, signatures, links, attachments and searchable text, and the PDF/A variant is used for long-term archiving. The fixed layout makes PDFs hard to edit, and scanned PDFs contain only images unless OCR is applied. Every browser and operating system can open them.
- Compression
- –
- Transparency
- Yes
- Animation
- No
- Introduced
- 1993 · Adobe
A .txt file shows up differently in every editor and has no notion of a page; converting it to PDF freezes the line layout, paper size and margins for printing, e-filing or attaching to an application.
Before you convert: encoding, long lines and tabs
- Save the file as UTF-8. In Notepad use File → Save as → Encoding; in TextEdit choose Format → Make Plain Text, then pick UTF-8 when saving.
- Check the longest line. Server logs and CSV exports often run past 120 characters; choose Narrow margins or Landscape orientation so they wrap less.
- Replace tab characters with spaces if columns must line up exactly, since tab stops differ between editors.
- Rename files in the order you want them merged later, for example 01-notes.txt, 02-notes.txt.
- Decide on PDF/A before converting if the destination is an archive or a court filing portal.
TXT to PDF questions
Will blank lines and indentation in my text file survive?
Yes. Every line break and empty line in the .txt becomes a line break in the PDF, and leading spaces stay in place. Only lines longer than the page width change: they wrap at the right margin instead of running off the paper.
Which character encoding should a .txt file use before converting?
UTF-8 is the safe choice and the default in Windows Notepad since Windows 10 version 1903 and in TextEdit on a Mac. Older files saved as ANSI or Windows-1252 still convert, but accented letters can turn into question marks or odd symbols. Re-save the file as UTF-8 first if you see that.
Is the text in the PDF selectable and searchable?
It is real text, not a picture of text, so you can select it, copy it and use Find in any PDF reader. That also keeps the file far smaller than a scanned page of the same text would be. To go back the other way, use PDF to text.
How do I turn ten text files into one PDF?
Convert them together here, download the ZIP, then put the PDFs in order with Merge PDF. Converting first and merging second lets you check each file's page breaks before they are stitched together.
Should I pick PDF or PDF/A for a text document?
PDF/A, defined in ISO 19005, embeds every font and forbids encryption, which is why some court filing systems and university repositories ask for it. You cannot combine PDF/A with an open password.
Can I lock the PDF so only certain people can read it?
Type a password into Open password under Advanced settings before converting. Anyone opening the PDF has to enter it first; leave the field empty for an unprotected file.
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