# Getting plain text on a Mac **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 5, 2011, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-plain-text-on-a-mac/566493 "2011-01-05T15:57:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-plain-text-on-a-mac/566493/1 "2011-01-05T15:57:32Z")
How do I convert something from Word to plain text on a Mac? There’s no Notepad feature, which is what I use on a PC. Only thing I’ve come up with is to create an email in Entourage and toggle off the HTML, but it’s not a complete conversion (quotes still come up curly instead of straight). Help! ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-plain-text-on-a-mac/566493/2 "2011-01-05T16:02:56Z")
Download the free and totally excellent [TextWrangler](http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/). There’s a way to do plain text in that annoying TextEdit thing that ships free as part of the OS, but it has an innate preference for rich text format (RTF) instead and for plain text it’s a tinkertoy compared to TextWrangler ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-plain-text-on-a-mac/566493/3 "2011-01-05T16:07:56Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > How do I convert something from Word to plain text on a Mac? There’s no Notepad feature, which is what I use on a PC. Only thing I’ve come up with is to create an email in Entourage and toggle off the HTML, but it’s not a complete conversion (quotes still come up curly instead of straight). > > Help! Okay, even if I do format, make plain text, and save as a .txt, I’ve still got curly quotes. **AHunter3** – that may be more weaponry than I need. I’m going to continue working in Word, but I need to be able to convert the files to upload them to a website. ---
**Author:** ![MobiusStripes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@MobiusStripes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MobiusStripes)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-plain-text-on-a-mac/566493/4 "2011-01-05T16:18:02Z")
If you already have Word (your second post implies you do), you can just save it as a TXT file. You can control quotes in both Word and I think in some export settings. You can also copy/paste it into any other plain text app though you’d obviously lose some formatting. There is a “notepad” like app on OS X but I don’t recall the name. I agree with a previous poster that Text Wrangler is far better. It also has handy things like “quote conversion”. As a final note, TXT files certainly work on a website, but HTML is usually the normal “web” thing. I assume the TXT files are for some more specific purpose. Would exporting the Word file as a PDF work for you? I think newer versions of Word can do that too and it maintains your formatting for posting on a website. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-plain-text-on-a-mac/566493/5 "2011-01-05T16:18:53Z")
Okay, just did a one-on-one with the Mac guru in the office, apparently I need to deal with it further upstream, by changing the settings in the Word doc … sigh. Thanks anyway.