Many users are faced with the need to convert a PDF or DOC document to text-only format. This can be done in several ways, depending on the type of document and the capabilities of the available software.
Instructions
Step 1
If you need to convert a DOC, DOCX, SXW, or ODT file, open it in a text editor capable of working with that file format (OpenOffice.org Writer, Microsoft Office Word, WordPad, Abiword), and then select “Save as . In the form to save, select the TXT format, and then the most convenient encoding of the resulting TXT file. Make sure that the file is automatically assigned the TXT extension, if it is not, assign it yourself. Save the file to the desired folder.
Step 2
To save the contents of a web page in TXT format, proceed in the same way, but you will not be able to select the encoding. It will be the same as the encoding of the original web page.
Step 3
On Linux or Windows operating systems, to convert a document from PDF to TXT, install the Xpdf package and then run the following command: pdftotext filename.pdf filename.txt
Step 4
If the document is open in a program that allows selection of text and transferring it to the clipboard, start any text editor that supports saving to TXT format (in Linux - KWrite, Geany, in Windows - Notepad). Select the entire text or a fragment of it with the mouse (to select all the text, you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + A), place the fragment in the clipboard with the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + C, then go to the text editor and paste a fragment of text into it by pressing Ctrl + V. Then save the text. It will be saved, regardless of the original encoding of the document, in the encoding used by the text editor. In the KWrite editor, you can select a different encoding before saving.
Step 5
If the file turned out in the wrong encoding, in which you want, open it using any browser, select the encoding in which the text is saved in its menu, select it again and transfer it to a text editor. If you are using Linux, immediately open the file in the KWrite editor, select the encoding in which it is saved from the menu, and then resave in the encoding you require.
