Convert DOCX to TXT and keep the structure readable
This DOCX to TXT converter turns a Microsoft Word document into a plain-text file that opens in Notepad, TextEdit, any code editor or a command-line tool. Drop in a .docx and the text appears straight away, ready to copy or to download as a .txt file in the encoding you need.
Plain text drops fonts and colours, but it shouldn’t drop meaning. Many extractors run paragraphs together, lose list numbers and dump table cells one per line. This one reads the Word file’s own XML: numbered lists keep their real numbers (including multilevel “2.1.” numbering), bullets are shown by level, tables become tab-separated rows for a spreadsheet or neatly aligned columns, and footnote markers point to notes listed at the end.
Everything happens on your device. The document is unzipped and read by JavaScript in this page, so contracts, CVs and medical letters never leave your computer or phone.
How to use the DOCX to TXT Converter
- Drop a .docx file on the upload area or click it to choose one. Files saved by Word, Google Docs, LibreOffice and WPS all work.
- Choose how the text should look: a blank line or a single line break between paragraphs, an optional wrap width, and how tables, headings, bullets and links are written.
- Tick Headers and footers to include running heads, or untick Footnotes and endnotes to leave notes out. The text updates as you change options.
- Pick the line endings and the encoding under Save as — UTF-8 suits almost everything.
- Press Download .txt, or Copy text to paste it somewhere else.
DOCX to TXT Converter features
Real list numbers
Word stores numbering as rules, not text. The converter replays those rules — start values, restarts, letters and Roman numerals — so “3.”, “b.” or “iv.” come out as Word shows them.
Tables that stay tables
Rows become lines with tab-separated cells, ready to paste into Excel or Google Sheets, or space-padded columns that also handle wide Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters.
Footnotes, endnotes, headers
Note markers such as [1] stay in the text with the notes listed at the end, and header and footer text can be added above and below the body.
Text boxes and hidden text
Text inside text boxes is included once, deleted tracked changes and hidden text are left out, and All Caps formatting is applied.
Your choice of encoding
Save as UTF-8, UTF-8 with a byte-order mark, UTF-16 or Windows-1252 (ANSI) for old software, with LF or CRLF line endings.
Private by design
No upload and no account. Apart from the ZIP reader (JSZip, MIT licence) fetched once from a CDN, no server is involved.
What happens to each part of a Word document
| In the .docx | In the .txt |
|---|---|
| Headings | Plain lines, optionally underlined with === / --- or in UPPERCASE |
| Bulleted lists | • ◦ ▪ by level (or - / *), indented two spaces per level |
| Numbered lists | The numbers Word displays: 1., 1.1., a., iv. |
| Tables | Tab-separated rows, aligned columns, or one cell per line; merged cells become empty cells |
| Hyperlinks | The link text, optionally followed by the address in brackets |
| Footnotes and endnotes | [1] markers in the text, the notes listed at the end |
| Pictures, charts, shapes | Left out (text inside text boxes is kept) |
| Bold, italic, fonts, colours | Removed — plain text has no formatting |
Choosing the encoding and line endings
A .txt file is a sequence of bytes, and the encoding decides which letters those bytes mean. UTF-8 stores every character — ₹, €, £, accented names, Hindi, Chinese, emoji — and is the default on the web, macOS, Linux and current Windows. UTF-8 with BOM adds a three-byte marker that older Windows programs and Excel use to recognise UTF-8. UTF-16 LE is what Windows calls “Unicode”.
Windows-1252, often labelled ANSI, is a single-byte Western European encoding that some accounting, banking and legacy systems still require. It covers English and most Western accented letters plus € and curly quotes, but not ₹, Cyrillic, Asian scripts or emoji; those are saved as question marks, and the page tells you how many were replaced. For line endings, LF suits nearly everything today, while CRLF is what classic Windows tools and some upload forms expect.
Tips for clean plain text
- Wrapping at 72 or 80 characters suits e-mail and terminals; leave wrapping off if another app will reflow the text.
- Use tab-separated tables for spreadsheets and aligned columns for people reading the file in a monospaced editor.
- Need the formatting too? Use DOCX to HTML, or keep the layout with Word to PDF.
- Paste the result into the Word Counter for word, character and reading-time counts.
DOCX to TXT Converter FAQ
How do I convert a DOCX file to TXT?
Drop the .docx on the converter above. The plain text appears immediately; adjust the options if you like, then press Download .txt. There is no sign-up, watermark or file limit.
Will numbered lists and bullets survive?
Yes. Numbers are worked out from the document’s own numbering rules, so the text shows the same 1., 2., 2.1. or a., b. that Word displays, and bullets appear as • ◦ ▪ by level or as hyphens if you prefer.
Can I convert an old .doc file?
Not directly: Word 97–2003 .doc files use a different, binary format. Open the file in Word, LibreOffice or Google Docs, save it as .docx, then convert it here. The same applies to .odt and .rtf files.
Why are some characters question marks in my TXT file?
You saved it as Windows-1252 (ANSI), which stores only about 220 Western characters. ₹, Chinese text or emoji can’t be represented, so they become “?”. Save as UTF-8 to keep every character.
Is my Word document uploaded?
No. The .docx is read by JavaScript inside your browser; nothing is sent to a server, and closing the tab discards it.
Does it include headers, footers and comments?
Headers and footers are included when you tick the option, and footnotes and endnotes are included by default. Comments, tracked deletions and hidden text are left out.