Can I extract text from PDFs received via FOIA requests?

Yes, as long as the PDF contains a selectable text layer. Many FOIA-produced PDFs are digitally created and fully selectable. Scanned responses without a text layer require OCR first.

How do I search across multiple extracted documents at once?

Download all .txt files to a folder and use a tool like grep (terminal), Agent Ransack (Windows), or load them into a full-text search tool. Each file corresponds to one source PDF.

Are the page numbers preserved so I can cite sources accurately?

Yes — standard page-break separators are inserted in the output, allowing you to map extracted text back to the page number in the original PDF for citation.

What's the largest document set I can process?

Up to 50 PDFs per batch, each up to 300 MB. For larger document sets, split into multiple batches and process sequentially.

Extract and Search Text from PDF Documents for Investigative Research

Investigative journalists and researchers routinely receive document dumps — court filings, FOIA responses, financial disclosures — as PDFs that can't be searched without manual scrolling. Deliteful extracts the embedded text from PDF files into plain text, so you can grep for names, dates, and keywords across an entire document set in minutes.

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A FOIA response arriving as 200 pages of PDF is only useful if you can find the relevant passages quickly. Extracting text from each document and loading it into a search tool — even a simple one like command-line grep or a spreadsheet — compresses hours of document review into a targeted keyword search. This workflow is standard practice in data-driven investigative reporting.

Deliteful processes PDFs up to 300 MB each, handles batches of up to 50 files, and outputs UTF-8 plain text with page separators preserved. That means you can trace any extracted passage back to its exact page in the source PDF for citation — essential when every factual claim needs a verifiable source.

How it works

1
Sign in with Google
Create your free Deliteful account in about 3 clicks.
2
Upload your PDF documents
Add court filings, FOIA documents, or reports — up to 50 files at once.
3
Extract the text layer
Deliteful pulls all selectable embedded text from each file server-side.
4
Search and cite
Download .txt files and search across the full corpus; page separators let you cite exact page numbers.

Frequently asked questions

Can I extract text from PDFs received via FOIA requests?: Yes, as long as the PDF contains a selectable text layer. Many FOIA-produced PDFs are digitally created and fully selectable. Scanned responses without a text layer require OCR first.
How do I search across multiple extracted documents at once?: Download all .txt files to a folder and use a tool like grep (terminal), Agent Ransack (Windows), or load them into a full-text search tool. Each file corresponds to one source PDF.
Are the page numbers preserved so I can cite sources accurately?: Yes — standard page-break separators are inserted in the output, allowing you to map extracted text back to the page number in the original PDF for citation.
What's the largest document set I can process?: Up to 50 PDFs per batch, each up to 300 MB. For larger document sets, split into multiple batches and process sequentially.

Create your free Deliteful account with Google and start extracting searchable text from your PDF document sets in seconds.