How to Make ChatGPT Read PDF Using 5 Easy Methods

The reowned AI chatbot ChatGPT falls short in interacting with document formats like .pdf – and that’s exactly what PDF ChatGPT tools are here for.

That said, if you still need OpenAI ChatGPT to read, summarize, rewrite, or translate information in certain PDF documents, such as research articles or textbooks, there are still many viable ways. Learn from the step-wise tutorials below about 5 free and easy methods to use ChatGPT to read PDFs.

👉 To save time, directly get PDFgear, the best free ChatGPT-integrated PDF chatbot.

Method 1. Read PDF Using ChatGPT Alternative

Since ChatGPT doesn’t work great with files, an AI PDF reader is what you need. Meet PDFgear Chatbot, a completely free AI PDF chatbot that works Windows, Mac, and iOS, and its entirely free to use.

Powered by the ChatGPT 3.5 model, PDFgear allows you to easily understand lengthy PDF documents by automatically summarizing them into digestible sentences. Since it’s fully unlimited, it allows you to use ChatGPT to read large PDF documents.

More than a top AI summarizer, PDFgear Chatbot also helps to paraphrase, translate, analyze, extract, and shorten PDF information, and even write essays.

And if you happen to need to make edits to PDF, the inbuilt PDF editing features such as annotations, signature, highlighting, etc. can be extremely useful.

Step 1. Get PDFgear on your computer or mobile, and launch the program.

Step 2. Hit Open File to import the PDF document you want ChatGPT to read.

Step 3. Go to the PDFgear Chatbot feature to the right to start chatting.

Step 4. PDFgear will use ChatGPT to automatically read and summarize the PDF for you.

Step 5. You can then go with the suggested questions or type in the text to ask further questions.

Method 2. Make ChatGPT Read PDF by Copying Text

Since ChatGPT is a language model that works mainly with human text, the customary way of reading PDFs with ChatGPT is by copying text from PDF documents into ChatGPT, and asking for it to read it using specific text prompts.

One thing worth noting is that the edibility of PDF documents is highly restricted, generally, you need a free PDF editor software like PDFgear to copy text from PDF. Moreover, the OCR feature will be used if you intend to copy text from scanned document PDFs.

Step 1. Get the free PDF editor reader software PDFgear on your Windows or Mac computer.

Step 2. Open the PDF document using PDFgear Desktop.

Step 3. Select and copy text from PDF documents.

Step 4. Paste the PDF text into ChatGPT, and ask it to read and summarize the information.

Method 3. Make ChatGPT Read PDF by Converting PDF to Word

As mentioned, it’s hard to directly copy information from a PDF document, so it’s a common practice to convert PDF to Microsoft Word document for the more convenient copying of the PDF text.

To do so, all you need is a piece of free PDF converter software, or a free online PDF converter if you’re working with smaller PDF documents.

Step 1. Go to the PDFgear PDF to Word converter.

Step 2. Drag and drop the PDF into the converter, and hit the Convert button to convert the imported PDF  to Microsoft Word using OCR.

Step 3. In the converted Word document, you can use the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl + A and Ctrl + C to copy the entire text from the original PDF.

Step 4. Once again, go to ChatGPT and ask it to read, summarize, or rewrite the information.

Method 4. Make ChatGPT Read PDF by Providing the URL

Since ChatGPT also works with live URLs of web-hosted PDF documents, you can also use ChatGPT to read PDF documents that are on the internet.

To do so, all you need to do is to provide the PDF URL to ChatGPT, and it can automatically analyze and read the information behind the link.

For demonstration, the following we’ll be reading the US Federal Income Tax, Publication 17 with ChatGPT.

Important Note: You need a ChatGPT Plus subscription to upload PDF documents to ChatGPT, which costs $20/month.

Step 1. Go to the webpage of the desired PDF, and copy the webpage URL.

Step 2. Go to ChatGPT, and ask it to read the PDF behind the URL.

Step 3. ChatGPT will read and explain the PDF document behind the link shortly.

Method 5. Read PDF Online Using a PDF Chatbot Website

ChatPDF is a GPT-powered website that allows you to read PDF documents using GPT in a web browser, while there are limitations, you don’t need to pay or register for an account for using ChatPDF.

Additionally, on our page of ChatPDF alternatives, you can discover many other similar websites such as Humata AI.

Step 1. Go to the ChatPDF website: https://www.chatpdf.com/

Step 2. Hit the Drop PDF Here button to upload the PDF document you want to read.

Step 3. ChatPDF will automatically process and load up the PDF.

Step 4. Click on one of the three suggested questions to better understand the PDF.

Step 5. Alternatively, send a text message to ask questions about the PDF document.

Unlimited PDF Reading with ChatGPT

In conclusion, there are many practical ways to read PDFs with ChatGPT, whether it’s direct uploading, or, copying text, using ChatGPT URL, or by providing the PDF’s URL.

So does ChatGPT support the uploading of PDF documents? The answer is yes, but you need the Plus subscription. Additionally, there are many other practical workarounds.

Make sure to try some methods until you find one that suits your needs. Moreover, all introduced methods on this page are entirely free of charge, so make sure to pick one you prefer and have a try.