PDF Support
Upload PDF documents and convert them to audio directly from the TTS Buddy dashboard.
How It Works
- Click the PDF upload button on the dashboard
- Select your PDF file
- TTS Buddy extracts the text content
- Review the extracted text in the editor
- Generate audio as usual
Supported PDF Types
Standard Text PDFs
Documents created from word processors, web pages, or digital tools. These work best because the text is embedded directly in the file.
Academic Papers
Research papers, journal articles, and conference papers. TTS Buddy handles multi-column layouts and extracts the main body text.
eBooks
Digital books in PDF format. Works well with most eBook PDFs that contain embedded text.
Scanned Documents
PDFs created from scanning physical documents may have limited support. If the PDF contains images of text rather than actual text data, extraction may not work. For scanned documents, consider using OCR software first.
Tips for Best Results
Before Uploading
- Check file size — Larger PDFs take longer to process
- Verify text is selectable — Open the PDF and try selecting text. If you can highlight text, TTS Buddy can extract it
- Note the page range — For very long PDFs, you can extract and convert sections at a time
After Extraction
- Review the text — Check that the extraction captured the content correctly
- Remove unwanted sections — Delete headers, footers, page numbers, or references you don't need
- Fix formatting — The AI sanitizer handles most formatting issues automatically, but you can clean up anything that looks off
Common PDF Scenarios
| Scenario | Result |
|---|---|
| Word document exported as PDF | Excellent extraction |
| Web page saved as PDF | Good extraction |
| Academic paper (two-column) | Good extraction (may need minor cleanup) |
| Scanned document (no OCR) | Limited or no text extracted |
| Password-protected PDF | Cannot extract (remove protection first) |
Limitations
- Image-only PDFs — PDFs that are scanned images without OCR text layers cannot be processed
- Complex layouts — Heavily formatted PDFs with sidebars, callout boxes, or mixed media may need text cleanup after extraction
- Password protection — Remove PDF passwords before uploading
- Very large files — Files with hundreds of pages are best handled in sections
For the best experience with long PDFs, extract the text, split it into chapters or sections, and generate separate audio files for each. This makes it easier to navigate your audio content.