Extracting text only from files.

  • Thread starter Thread starter John Fitzsimons
  • Start date Start date
J

John Fitzsimons

Hi, someone sent me a Word file the other day in a version I didn't
have. I thought I might simply use a program to see the text without
the control codes. I couldn't remember/find such a program on my
computer though.

Which program(s) would do that please ? I tried Bintext but it only
extracted individual words. Not paragraphs etc. as readable text.

Regards, John.
 
Hi, someone sent me a Word file the other day in a version I didn't
have. I thought I might simply use a program to see the text without
the control codes. I couldn't remember/find such a program on my
computer though.

Which program(s) would do that please ? I tried Bintext but it only
extracted individual words. Not paragraphs etc. as readable text.
Click to expand...

Maybe "Peek":

http://members.ping.at//mlubich/

HTH
 
John said:
Which program(s) would do that please ? I tried Bintext but it only
extracted individual words. Not paragraphs etc. as readable text.

Regards, John.
Click to expand...

John did you try Word itself yet? When you open, look on the list of
the "Files of type" drop down choices which is right next to the cancel
button. It defaults of course to "Word Documents (*.doc)" but on the
list there is also a choice "Recover Text from Any File (*.*)". This
is a text extractor. I'm not sure how well it works.

Here are two other text extractors:

http://www.ultima-thule.co.uk/ - Text Extract (direct download:
http://www.ultima-thule.co.uk/downloads/textextract.zip)

http://members.fortunecity.com/bigg5/frw/diagn.htm - Read Text (direct
download: ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/fileutil/rt101.zip)

socrtwo
www.s2services.com
 
John said:
Which program(s) would do that please ? I tried Bintext but it only
extracted individual words. Not paragraphs etc. as readable text.

Regards, John.
Click to expand...

John did you try Word itself yet? When you open, look on the list of
the "Files of type" drop down choices which is right next to the cancel
button. It defaults of course to "Word Documents (*.doc)" but on the
list there is also a choice "Recover Text from Any File (*.*)". This
is a text extractor. I'm not sure how well it works.

Here are two other text extractors:

http://www.ultima-thule.co.uk/ - Text Extract (direct download:
http://www.ultima-thule.co.uk/downloads/textextract.zip)

http://members.fortunecity.com/bigg5/frw/diagn.htm - Read Text (direct
download: ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/fileutil/rt101.zip)

socrtwo
www.s2services.com
 
Hi, someone sent me a Word file the other day in a version I didn't
have. I thought I might simply use a program to see the text without
the control codes. I couldn't remember/find such a program on my
computer though.

Which program(s) would do that please ? I tried Bintext but it only
extracted individual words. Not paragraphs etc. as readable text.

Regards, John.
Click to expand...

I use EDXOR.
Select all > Format > Wipe non-ascii
Make sure you don't save over the original file!

Ross
 
Hi, someone sent me a Word file the other day in a version I didn't
have. I thought I might simply use a program to see the text without
the control codes. I couldn't remember/find such a program on my
computer though.

Which program(s) would do that please ? I tried Bintext but it only
extracted individual words. Not paragraphs etc. as readable text.
Click to expand...

There are lots of programs out there doing this. (One way or another.)
They even are called the same, sometimes. A highly customizable
'BinText' you might try out is the one written by Robin Keir. He
transferred it to Foundstone which now belongs to McAfee. The BinText
program is still available for free, though:

www.foundstone.com/resources/proddesc/bintext.htm

For your purpose a more advanced viewer would serve you better, IMHO.
If you don't like trying Microsofts own free Word viewer:

www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.aspx?categoryid=9

you can use CryptEdit with its additional converter pack:

http://cryptedit.chat.ru/downloads.htm

It should open and display Word Documents up to Word2003.

HTH.
BeAr
 
I had the same problem once when I double clicked on a *.doc file with
my file manager. It wouldn't open. Then I opened Word and used the
file open command to open the file. It opened that time after
performing a conversion that it told me about...why it worked I don't
know.
 
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