PDF tool
PDF to EPUB
Turn a text-based PDF into an EPUB that reflows on a Kindle, Kobo, Apple Books, or any other EPUB reader. The PDF is read in this tab and the book is built here too, so the file is never uploaded, there is no queue, and no account is needed.
1. Choose a PDF
A PDF with a real text layer converts cleanly. A scan is a picture of a page and needs OCR first.
Choose the PDF to convert
You can also drag it onto this box
PDF only ยท the file stays on this device
Choose a PDF to begin. Nothing is uploaded.
2. Download the EPUB
Each PDF page becomes a chapter, and the reader decides how much text fits on a screen.
The PDF reader and the EPUB packager are fetched from this site the first time you convert something, then kept by your browser.
This is a text conversion, not a photocopy. A PDF fixes every word to a position on a page. An EPUB does not: it hands the text to the reader, which changes the font size, line length, and page count to suit the screen. That is why the EPUB is readable on a phone and why a table, a two-column layout, or an image placed beside a paragraph cannot come across unchanged.
What the conversion keeps
Text and reading order
The words are extracted from the PDF’s text layer and grouped back into lines and paragraphs using their positions on the page. On an ordinary single-column document, the order is the order you would read.
Basic headings
A line noticeably larger than the body text is treated as a heading, so chapters and section titles are not flattened into ordinary paragraphs. The detection is a heuristic, not a guess at the author’s intent.
Page breaks as chapters
Every page that contains text becomes one chapter in the EPUB’s table of contents. That keeps the navigation predictable and makes it obvious where a page ended if a paragraph looks split.
Selectable, searchable text
The result is real text, not an image. It can be selected, searched, translated, and read aloud by the e-reader, which is the main reason to convert a PDF rather than keep it.
What does not come across
Images and diagrams
They are not copied into the EPUB. A page that is mostly a photograph, a chart, or a scanned illustration will arrive with its captions and little else. If the pictures are the point, keep the PDF.
Tables and columns
A table’s cells are positioned text, not a table structure, so the extracted lines can read across rows in the wrong order. Two-column pages have the same problem. Check any page with either before relying on the EPUB.
Exact layout, fonts, and page numbers
An EPUB has no fixed pages. The reader chooses the font and size, so the printed page numbers in the PDF no longer match anything, and headers, footers, and margin notes may be read as ordinary lines of text.
Links, forms, and signatures
Internal links, form fields, and digital signatures belong to the PDF’s page structure. They do not survive a rebuild into another format. Keep the signed original if that is what you need.
Scanned PDFs need OCR first
A scanner usually produces an image inside a PDF, not text. There is nothing to extract, so this tool stops and says so rather than producing an empty book. Run the scan through an OCR tool that can open PDFs, save the searchable result, and convert that. If you only have a picture of the page, the image to text tool can read the text from an image, though it works one image at a time.
Getting the EPUB onto your reader
Kindle
Use Amazon’s Send to Kindle page, app, or your Kindle email address. Amazon accepts EPUB and converts it for the device. Copying the file over USB will not work, because a Kindle does not open EPUB directly; sent documents appear under Docs rather than Books.
Kobo
Connect the reader over USB, copy the EPUB into its storage, and eject safely. Kobo reads EPUB natively and will add the book to its library after it scans the folder.
Apple Books
Open the downloaded file on an iPhone, iPad, or Mac and choose Books, or drag it into the Apple Books window. It is added to your library and syncs through iCloud when that is enabled.
Android and other readers
Open the file with an installed EPUB reader, or upload it to Google Play Books on the web and read it in the app. The EPUB is DRM-free, so any reader that supports the format can open it.
Check the EPUB before you send it
Open the EPUB in the reader you actually use. Check that the chapter order is right, that the first page is not a table of contents that lost its page numbers, and that accented letters came through. A conversion that looks fine in one reader can expose a problem in another, and the first chapter is usually enough to tell.
When to keep the PDF
Keep the PDF when the layout is the message: a form to fill in, a signed contract, a designed report, a comic, or a scanned certificate. EPUB is better for novels, reports, notes, and anything that is mostly continuous prose that you want to read at your own font size.
Other PDF tools
If the PDF needs pages removed or reordered before conversion, use the PDF editor. If you are combining several PDFs first, use Merge PDF; if you need to pull out a chapter, use Split PDF.
Why a reflowing format behaves differently
A PDF describes where each piece of text sits on a page. EPUB describes a sequence of text and lets the reader decide the layout, which is what makes it reflow: the same file can fill a phone screen or a large e-reader, and the reader sets the font size.
That difference is the whole value of the conversion for reading, and also the reason it cannot be faithful for layout. A page designed as a two-column newsletter, or a form with labels positioned beside fields, loses its arrangement because there is no single arrangement to preserve.
Text-based PDFs convert well because the text is real text that can be extracted in reading order. A scanned PDF is a picture of a page, so converting it produces either nothing usable or an image per page, depending on the tool. Run it through OCR first if the source is a scan.
Read the result on the device you will actually use. Reading-order problems, such as a caption ending up in the middle of a paragraph, are easy to miss on a large screen and obvious on a phone, and they are worth catching before you rely on the file for study.
Further reading: Read the full guide: PDF to EPUB
Common questions
Is my PDF uploaded anywhere?
No. The PDF is read with a browser-based PDF engine and the EPUB is assembled in this tab. Nothing is sent to a server, which is also why there is no queue and nothing to delete afterwards.
Why does it say my PDF has no text?
That message means the pages are images rather than text, which is what a scanner produces. There is no text layer to extract, so the tool stops instead of making an empty book. Run the scan through an OCR tool that can open PDFs, save the searchable copy, and convert that.
What formatting survives the conversion?
The words, their paragraph order, and lines that are clearly larger than the body text, which become headings. Each PDF page with text becomes one chapter in the EPUB table of contents. Exact fonts, page numbers, headers, and footers do not survive because an EPUB has no fixed pages.
Why are the images and tables missing?
Images are not copied into the EPUB, and a table is positioned text rather than a table structure, so its cells can come out in the wrong order. Two-column pages have the same problem. If the pictures or the table are the point, keep the PDF.
Can I convert a password-protected PDF?
No. The contents are encrypted, so the text cannot be read without the password. Open the file in a PDF reader, save an unprotected copy, then convert that. This tool cannot guess or bypass a password.
Which devices can read the EPUB?
Kindle through Send to Kindle, Kobo, Apple Books, Google Play Books, Calibre, and most e-reader apps. It is a standard EPUB 3 file with a navigation document, so it should open anywhere EPUB is supported.
Is there a page limit?
No fixed limit, but a very large PDF is held in the tab while it is read and packaged, and a phone will run out of memory sooner than a desktop. If a long document stalls, split it into smaller files first, convert each one, and combine them in an EPUB editor.