How to Copy an Image from a PDF

Download Article

Extract images from a PDF with Adobe Acrobat & taking screenshots

Written by Darlene Antonelli, MA

Last Updated: November 16, 2024

Download Article

Using Adobe Acrobat Reader

|

Taking a Screenshot on Windows

|

Taking a Screenshot on Mac

This wikiHow teaches you how to copy pictures from a PDF. You can use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader program to copy the image if the PDF was created from a text document on a computer; if the PDF was scanned into the computer from a physical document or it has copy protection, however, you'll only be able to take a screenshot of the image.

Extracting Images from a PDF

To copy an image from a PDF, open a PDF file in Adobe Acrobat Reader. Click the picture in the PDF, and then click Copy at the top. You can then paste it wherever you'd like.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Using Adobe Acrobat Reader

Download Article

1
Open Acrobat Reader. Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is a free PDF viewer from Adobe. Depending on the type of PDF you downloaded, you may be able to select and copy the text in the PDF from here.
- If you don't have Adobe Reader yet, you can download and install it for free from https://get.adobe.com/reader/ . This software works for both Mac and Windows computers.
2
Open the PDF file. You can do this by clicking the File tab, then click Open in the drop-down menu.
- If Adobe Reader is your default PDF program, just double-click the PDF file that you want to open to open it in Acrobat Reader.
Advertisement
By default, the Selection tool should be active. If not, you can find this tool above the document page. It looks like a blue mouse cursor.
4
Press Ctrl + C (Windows) or ⌘ Cmd + C . The picture is copied to your clipboard and can be pasted anywhere, like in Microsoft Word.
- You can also click Copy from the Edit tab. ^{[1]
  X
  Research source}

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Taking a Screenshot on Windows

Download Article

This method will take a screenshot of your PDF picture using the default screenshot tools on your Windows computer.
2
Open Snipping Tool. You can type "Snipping Tool" in the search bar in the task menu to find this app, or you can find it in the app list in the Start Menu.
- Make sure you can easily see and select the corners of the PDF image in the background.
You'll see this in the top left of the application window. A menu will dropdown.
This will let you select the outline of the picture and screenshot that instead of the entire screen.
Your screen will grey out and your cursor will look like cross-hairs.
This saves your screenshot as an image file..

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Taking a Screenshot on Mac

Download Article

This method will take a screenshot of your PDF picture using the default screenshot tools on your Mac computer.
2
Open Preview. You'll find this in the Dock or by searching your Applications folder.
- Make sure you can easily see and select the corners of the PDF image in the background.
You'll see this along the top of your screen.
A menu will pop up to the right.
Your screen will grey out and your cursor will look like crosshairs.
This saves your screenshot as an image file.