How to convert a TXT file to PDF

A plain text file is the simplest document there is, but it is not always the easiest to send. Each device opens it with its own font, and long lines can run off the edge of a screen. A PDF fixes that. The pages and the line breaks look the same for everyone who opens the file. This guide shows how to turn a .txt file into a PDF with TXT to PDF, and how to choose the settings.

It also covers odd characters, very long lines, and what to do when you have several text files that should become one document.

How do I convert a TXT file to PDF?

Open TXT to PDF, drop in your .txt file or paste your text, and edit it if you need to. Choose a font, a size, a margin and a page size, then press Convert to PDF. Download the PDF from the result screen. The text flows onto as many pages as it needs.

1. Open TXT to PDF.
2. Drop your .txt file onto the tool, or choose it from your device. You can also type or paste text instead.
3. Read the text on screen and fix anything you want to change. You can edit it before you make the PDF.
4. Choose sans-serif, serif or monospace for the font, a size, a margin, and A4 or US Letter for the page.
5. Tick Add page numbers if you want a small Page 1 of 3 line at the bottom of each page.
6. Press Convert to PDF, then download the file from the result screen.

Which settings should I choose?

Sans-serif at a normal reading size suits most notes. Choose monospace when columns need to line up. Pick the page size your reader will print on, and leave a margin so nothing sits at the edge. You can always run the tool again with different settings.

• Font: sans-serif, serif or monospace. Monospace gives every character the same width, so columns made with spaces stay lined up.
• Size: anywhere from 8 to 24 points. Smaller sizes fit more on a page. Larger sizes are easier to read on a phone.
• Margin: the empty border around the text. A wider margin means more pages.
• Page size: A4 or US Letter.
• Page numbers: optional, and drawn inside the margin.

A worked example

Say you keep a list of repairs for a rental unit in a notes app on your phone, and you want a copy to keep with the lease. You export the list as repairs.txt. Some lines are short, such as a date and a room, and some are long sentences about what the plumber found.

You open TXT to PDF and drop in the file. The dates are lined up in a column with spaces, so you choose monospace. You pick US Letter, leave the margin as it is and tick Add page numbers. After you press Convert to PDF, the long sentences wrap at spaces and keep their indent, and the list runs onto a second page. You download the PDF and save it next to the lease.

What happens to long lines, tabs and blank lines?

A line wider than the page breaks at a space and carries on below it, keeping its indent. A tab becomes four spaces. Blank lines are kept, so your paragraphs stay apart. A form feed character in the text starts a new page.

The words in the PDF are drawn as text, not as a picture. That means you can select them, copy them and search the file. If you ever need the words back out of a PDF, PDF to Text does the reverse job.

Which characters and text encodings work?

UTF-8, UTF-16 and older Windows text files are read. Latin, Greek and Cyrillic letters can be drawn. Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Hebrew and emoji cannot yet. The tool tells you which characters are the problem instead of drawing empty boxes.

If your text has Greek or Cyrillic letters, the PDF uses Noto Sans for them. You do not need to do anything to switch to it.

How do I put several text files in one PDF?

Convert each file on its own, then join the PDFs with Merge PDF. Drag them into the order you want and download one file. Each text file starts on a new page. If you want the numbers to run across the whole document, add them last with Add Page Numbers to PDF instead of ticking the box in each conversion.

Common problems and fixes

• The tool lists characters it cannot draw. Those are most likely Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Hebrew or emoji. Remove or replace them, then try again.
• Columns look ragged. Choose monospace. In a font where letters have different widths, spaces cannot line columns up.
• The text looks scrambled. The file may use an encoding the tool read differently than you expected. Try pasting the text from your editor instead of adding the file.
• The PDF has more pages than you wanted. Lower the font size or the margin and convert again.
• You see symbols such as # or ** in the PDF. Your file is probably Markdown. Use Markdown to PDF, which shows a preview before you download.
• You need the pages numbered the same way as other pages in a bigger file. See how to add a header and footer to a PDF.

Where does your file go?

Text files often hold notes, logs and lists with names in them. TXT to PDF lays out your text and saves it as a PDF in your browser, so the file is not sent to our servers. You can still check how any tool handles your files before you use it.

A short checklist

• Keep your original .txt file.
• Choose monospace if your text has columns.
• Pick the page size your reader uses.
• Open the PDF and look at the first and last pages.
• Add page numbers if the file runs past one page.

2 free uses in total, no account needed. Free files can be up to 50 MB, and Pro allows up to 500 MB.

Sources

• PDFinish's own TXT to PDF page, for the font, size, margin and page options, line wrapping, characters and encodings, as of November 2026.