tigtools

EPUB to Text

Choose an .epub file to get its chapters as plain text in the order the book is read. Everything happens in your browser.

Runs in your browser No sign-up

or drop it here. The file stays on your device.

How to use it

  1. Choose or drop an .epub file.
  2. Untick chapters you do not need, such as the cover or index.
  3. Decide whether each chapter starts with its title.
  4. Copy the text or download it as a .txt file.

How it works

An EPUB is a ZIP archive of web pages plus a package file that lists them in reading order (the spine). The tool reads that order, opens each chapter file and turns it into text: paragraphs and headings are separated by blank lines, line breaks are kept, list items get a bullet or number, and table cells are separated by tabs. Images are replaced by their alt text where there is one.

Chapter titles come from the book's table of contents (the EPUB 3 navigation document or the EPUB 2 NCX file); a chapter without an entry is named after its first heading or its file name. The chapter files are parsed as inert documents: their scripts and styles are ignored and nothing is loaded from the internet.

Books protected with DRM are encrypted and cannot be read; the tool tells you when that is the case. Footnotes appear where the publisher placed them, often at the end of a chapter or in a separate chapter.

Examples

Quoting from a book

Extract a non-fiction e-book to text to search it and copy exact quotations for a paper, with chapter titles to find the source again.

Counting words per chapter

An author checks the length of each chapter of their own manuscript exported as EPUB; the chapter list shows the word count of each.

Frequently asked questions

Why can't my e-book be read?

Books bought from many stores are protected with DRM, which encrypts the chapter files. Only DRM-free EPUBs can be converted.

Can I convert Kindle (AZW, MOBI) or PDF e-books?

No, only the EPUB format. For PDF books use the PDF to Text tool.

Why is there a chapter called cover.xhtml?

Some books have pages without a table-of-contents entry or heading, so the file name is shown. Untick such chapters to leave them out.

Privacy

The e-book is opened and read in your browser. The file and its text are not uploaded, stored or included in analytics; only an anonymous event that the tool was used is counted.