diff --git a/src/lib/documents/pdf-child.mjs b/src/lib/documents/pdf-child.mjs
index 1bb7c7665..6d460f60d 100644
--- a/src/lib/documents/pdf-child.mjs
+++ b/src/lib/documents/pdf-child.mjs
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ import { writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
 import * as nodeModule from "node:module";
 
 import { renderImageThumbnail } from "./image-engine.mjs";
-import { readTextLayer, renderPdfPages } from "./pdf-engine.mjs";
+import { readPageTexts, readTextLayer, renderPdfPages } from "./pdf-engine.mjs";
 
 // The parent closed the canvas gate (`./native-canvas-support.ts`): this CPU
 // lacks instructions the native canvas was built with, and loading it ends
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ try {
 
 /**
  * @typedef {{ op: "text"; data: Uint8Array; maxPages: number }
+ *   | { op: "page-texts"; data: Uint8Array; maxPages: number }
  *   | { op: "render"; data: Uint8Array; options: import("./pdf-engine.mjs").RenderOptions }
  *   | { op: "image-thumbnail"; data: Uint8Array; options: import("./image-engine.mjs").ImageThumbnailOptions }} PdfChildRequest
  */
@@ -68,6 +69,12 @@ async function handle(request) {
     if (request.op === "text") {
       return { ok: true, text: await readTextLayer(data, request.maxPages) };
     }
+    if (request.op === "page-texts") {
+      return {
+        ok: true,
+        pageTexts: await readPageTexts(data, request.maxPages),
+      };
+    }
     if (request.op === "render") {
       return {
         ok: true,
diff --git a/src/lib/documents/pdf-engine.mjs b/src/lib/documents/pdf-engine.mjs
index a5e001325..3b67330fe 100644
--- a/src/lib/documents/pdf-engine.mjs
+++ b/src/lib/documents/pdf-engine.mjs
@@ -270,6 +270,42 @@ export async function readTextLayer(data, maxPages = Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY) {
   }
 }
 
+/**
+ * The text layer page by page, without rendering: the first `maxPages` pages,
+ * each read the way `pageText` reads a rendered page (line by line, cut and
+ * marked past `RASTER_PAGE_TEXT_MAX`, empty for a page without one), and the
+ * document's page count. Throws what pdf.js throws when the document will not
+ * open; a page that will not parse reads as empty.
+ *
+ * @param {Uint8Array} data
+ * @param {number} maxPages
+ * @returns {Promise<{ pageCount: number; texts: string[] }>}
+ */
+export async function readPageTexts(data, maxPages) {
+  const task = await openPdfDocument(data);
+  try {
+    const doc = await task.promise;
+    const count = Math.min(doc.numPages, maxPages);
+    /** @type {string[]} */
+    const texts = [];
+    for (let n = 1; n <= count; n++) {
+      const page = await doc.getPage(n);
+      try {
+        texts.push(await pageText(page));
+      } finally {
+        page.cleanup();
+      }
+    }
+    return { pageCount: doc.numPages, texts };
+  } finally {
+    try {
+      await task.destroy();
+    } catch {
+      // Best-effort teardown; a destroy failure must not mask the result.
+    }
+  }
+}
+
 /**
  * The most text kept from one page's text layer when pages are rendered.
  * Collection stops here while the items are read, so a PDF whose content
diff --git a/src/lib/documents/pdf-isolation.ts b/src/lib/documents/pdf-isolation.ts
index fa405ebd7..6937afa75 100644
--- a/src/lib/documents/pdf-isolation.ts
+++ b/src/lib/documents/pdf-isolation.ts
@@ -79,14 +79,23 @@ const CHILD_PATH = ["src", "lib", "documents", "pdf-child.mjs"];
 
 export type PdfChildRequest =
   | { op: "text"; data: Uint8Array; maxPages: number }
+  | { op: "page-texts"; data: Uint8Array; maxPages: number }
   | { op: "render"; data: Uint8Array; options: RenderOptions }
   | { op: "image-thumbnail"; data: Uint8Array; options: ImageThumbnailOptions };
 
 type PdfChildValue<R extends PdfChildRequest> = R extends { op: "text" }
   ? string
-  : R extends { op: "render" }
-    ? RenderedDocument
-    : ImageThumbnailOutcome;
+  : R extends { op: "page-texts" }
+    ? PdfPageTexts
+    : R extends { op: "render" }
+      ? RenderedDocument
+      : ImageThumbnailOutcome;
+
+/** A document's text layer page by page: the first pages read, and how many it has. */
+export interface PdfPageTexts {
+  pageCount: number;
+  texts: string[];
+}
 
 /** Why a child gave no result. */
 export type PdfChildFailure =
@@ -212,6 +221,7 @@ async function residentMb(pid: number): Promise<number | null> {
 interface ChildReply {
   ok: boolean;
   text?: string;
+  pageTexts?: PdfPageTexts;
   document?: RenderedDocument;
   thumbnail?: ImageThumbnailOutcome;
   error?: { name: string; message: string };
@@ -237,6 +247,9 @@ function decodeValue<R extends PdfChildRequest>(
   reply: ChildReply,
 ): PdfChildValue<R> {
   if (request.op === "text") return reply.text as PdfChildValue<R>;
+  if (request.op === "page-texts") {
+    return reply.pageTexts as PdfChildValue<R>;
+  }
   if (request.op === "render") {
     return decodeDocument(
       reply.document as RenderedDocument,
diff --git a/src/lib/documents/pdf-text-layer.ts b/src/lib/documents/pdf-text-layer.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7652ab292
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/documents/pdf-text-layer.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,127 @@
+/**
+ * Reading a PDF by its text layer when this server cannot render its pages
+ * (#1311).
+ *
+ * The page renderer needs CPU features some hosts lack
+ * (`./native-canvas-support.ts`). There a provider that takes a PDF whole
+ * still reads it, but a provider that only takes images gets nothing to look
+ * at. A digitally produced report states every word and digit in its text
+ * layer, and pdf.js reads that without rendering, so such a PDF is read as
+ * text instead. A scanned page has no text layer, and this never pretends it
+ * does: a page counts only with `TEXT_LAYER_PAGE_MIN_CHARS` characters of its
+ * own, and a PDF with no such page is not read at all.
+ *
+ * A text read loses what only the picture carries (a table's ruling, a
+ * stamp, a handwritten note), and the pages without a text layer are left
+ * out. Callers that report a partial read report this one as partial
+ * (`isPartialTextLayer`).
+ */
+import { annotate } from "@/lib/logging/context";
+
+import {
+  PdfReaderUnavailableError,
+  PdfResourceLimitError,
+  readPdfPageTexts,
+} from "./pdfjs";
+
+/**
+ * Characters other than white space a page's text layer needs before the page
+ * counts as read. A scanner that stamps a page number, a date or a fax header
+ * onto an image leaves a few; a page of a report, even a short letter, has
+ * hundreds.
+ */
+export const TEXT_LAYER_PAGE_MIN_CHARS = 40;
+
+/** A PDF's usable text layer, page by page. */
+export interface PdfTextLayer {
+  /** Pages in the PDF. Above the pages looked at when the cap cut it short. */
+  pageCount: number;
+  /** Pages looked at: the first `pagesRead` of `pageCount`. */
+  pagesRead: number;
+  /** The pages with a usable text layer (1-based), in order. */
+  pages: { page: number; text: string }[];
+  /** Pages looked at that have none (a scanned page): not read. */
+  pagesWithoutText: number[];
+}
+
+export type PdfTextLayerRead =
+  | { ok: true; layer: PdfTextLayer }
+  | {
+      ok: false;
+      /**
+       * `none`: no page has a usable text layer (a scan). `unreadable`:
+       * pdf.js could not open the file, or it crossed the reader's bounds.
+       * `busy`: the reader could not take it now; not a verdict on the file.
+       */
+      reason: "none" | "unreadable" | "busy";
+    };
+
+/** Whether one page's text layer is enough to count the page as read. */
+export function isUsablePageText(text: string): boolean {
+  return text.replace(/\s+/g, "").length >= TEXT_LAYER_PAGE_MIN_CHARS;
+}
+
+/** Pages were left out: past the cap, or without a text layer. */
+export function isPartialTextLayer(layer: PdfTextLayer): boolean {
+  return layer.pagesWithoutText.length > 0 || layer.pageCount > layer.pagesRead;
+}
+
+/** The usable pages' text, one page after another. */
+export function textLayerText(layer: PdfTextLayer): string {
+  return layer.pages.map((p) => p.text).join("\n\n");
+}
+
+/**
+ * The usable text layer of the first `maxPages` pages. Never throws; `surface`
+ * names the caller on the wide event.
+ */
+export async function readPdfTextLayer(
+  bytes: Uint8Array,
+  maxPages: number,
+  surface: string,
+): Promise<PdfTextLayerRead> {
+  let read: { pageCount: number; texts: string[] };
+  try {
+    read = await readPdfPageTexts(bytes, maxPages);
+  } catch (err) {
+    const busy = err instanceof PdfReaderUnavailableError;
+    annotate({
+      action: { name: "documents.pdfTextLayer.failed" },
+      meta: {
+        surface,
+        reason: busy
+          ? err.kind
+          : err instanceof PdfResourceLimitError
+            ? "resource_limit"
+            : "unreadable",
+      },
+    });
+    return { ok: false, reason: busy ? "busy" : "unreadable" };
+  }
+  const pages: PdfTextLayer["pages"] = [];
+  const pagesWithoutText: number[] = [];
+  read.texts.forEach((raw, i) => {
+    const text = raw.trim();
+    if (isUsablePageText(text)) pages.push({ page: i + 1, text });
+    else pagesWithoutText.push(i + 1);
+  });
+  annotate({
+    action: { name: "documents.pdfTextLayer.read" },
+    meta: {
+      surface,
+      pageCount: read.pageCount,
+      pagesRead: read.texts.length,
+      pagesWithText: pages.length,
+    },
+  });
+  if (pages.length === 0) return { ok: false, reason: "none" };
+  return {
+    ok: true,
+    layer: {
+      pageCount: read.pageCount,
+      pagesRead: read.texts.length,
+      pages,
+      pagesWithoutText,
+    },
+  };
+}
diff --git a/src/lib/documents/pdfjs.ts b/src/lib/documents/pdfjs.ts
index 7a55c75ef..988286a6b 100644
--- a/src/lib/documents/pdfjs.ts
+++ b/src/lib/documents/pdfjs.ts
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
  * This module has no logging of its own, so the end-to-end suite can read
  * report text with it; the callers say what failed.
  */
-import { runPdfChild } from "./pdf-isolation";
+import { runPdfChild, type PdfPageTexts } from "./pdf-isolation";
 
 export { joinTextRuns } from "./pdf-engine.mjs";
 
@@ -67,3 +67,28 @@ export async function readPdfText(
   err.name = result.name;
   throw err;
 }
+
+/**
+ * The text layer of the first `maxPages` pages, page by page, with the
+ * document's page count. Each page is read as a rendered page's text layer is
+ * (`pageText`: cut and marked past `RASTER_PAGE_TEXT_MAX`, empty for a page
+ * without one), and nothing is rendered, so it works where the page renderer
+ * cannot run. Throws as `readPdfText` does.
+ */
+export async function readPdfPageTexts(
+  data: Uint8Array,
+  maxPages: number,
+): Promise<PdfPageTexts> {
+  const result = await runPdfChild(
+    { op: "page-texts", data, maxPages },
+    { timeoutMs: PDF_TEXT_TIMEOUT_MS },
+  );
+  if (result.ok) return result.value;
+  if (result.reason === "limit") throw new PdfResourceLimitError(result.limit);
+  if (result.reason === "busy" || result.reason === "interrupted") {
+    throw new PdfReaderUnavailableError(result.reason);
+  }
+  const err = new Error(result.message);
+  err.name = result.name;
+  throw err;
+}