Take the words out of a .docx and leave the formatting
Processed in your browser. Nothing is uploaded. Updated on 24 Oct 2026.A .docx is a zip of XML, so you cannot simply open one in a text editor and read it. This unpacks the document in your browser and returns the body as plain text: paragraphs separated by blank lines, tables as rows of cells divided by a pipe, and no styling at all. It suits feeding a document into a script, a prompt, a diff or anything else that wants characters rather than a document.
Drop the .docx onto the page, or click the drop area to choose it.
Leave Convert to on Plain text and press Convert to plain text.
Check the words in the Result pane; formatting and pictures are left out.
Press Copy, or Download .txt to save the text.
Drop a document and the tool reads its first bytes to work out what it really is, rather than trusting the name on the end of it. If the two disagree it says so once and carries on with the truth. Then it offers the conversion you almost certainly came for as a single button, with what that conversion costs written out above it, before you press anything.
It covers the pairs a browser can do properly. Markdown becomes HTML, plain text or a PDF. HTML becomes Markdown, plain text or a PDF. A Word .docx becomes HTML, Markdown or plain text. A PDF gives up its text as plain text, Markdown or HTML. A plain text file becomes a PDF, an HTML page or Markdown. An RTF gives up its words.
It also refuses, in plain words, the pairs it would do badly. A .docx going to PDF is sent to Word to PDF, which lays the document out on a real page and shows you page one first. A PDF going to Word is sent to PDF to Word, which reads the sizes and positions in the file to rebuild headings and lists. For PDF to Markdown or HTML, headings and lists are worked out the same way and the page says so before it runs; switch that off for plain paragraphs.
The rest of the article, and all 6 questions about Document Converter, are on the Document Converter page.
Markdown to HTML, plain text or PDF. HTML to Markdown, plain text or PDF. Word (.docx) to HTML, Markdown or plain text. PDF to plain text, Markdown or HTML. Plain text to PDF, HTML or Markdown. RTF to plain text. Each pair has its own page with its own explanation of what it keeps and what it drops.
Because another tool on this site does it properly. Word to PDF lays the document out on a page size you choose, with margins and a body size, and shows you page one before you download anything. Doing it here would give you the same text with less care, so this tool sends you there instead. The same goes for PDF to Word, which is handled by PDF to Word.
No. Reading the .docx, extracting the PDF text, rendering the Markdown and writing the new file all happen in the page you have open. Nothing is sent to a server and nothing is stored, so a contract, a medical letter or an unpublished draft never leaves your device.
A scan is a photograph of a document, not a document. There is no text inside the file to extract, so there is nothing to convert. Reading it needs optical character recognition, which is a different job; the tool says so rather than handing you an empty file.
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On the related tools: VCF to Excel – Open phone contacts in Excel, one row per contact, each number in its own column · EPUB to Markdown – Turn an e-book into Markdown with its headings, italics, bold and lists kept.
In the collections File Converter · Office File Tools.