What happens when you convert PPT to TXT
- The PPT is opened by LibreOffice, the open-source office suite, on our conversion server and exported to PDF, and MuPDF reads the text of each slide from it, in order.
- The slides come out one after another as UTF-8 plain text, separated by blank lines, with every language and alphabet kept.
- Only the words on the slides are kept. Pictures, shapes, charts, colours and layout are left out, speaker notes are not included, and text that is part of an image cannot be read.
- This conversion runs on our server: the file is uploaded, converted, and deleted together with the result as soon as the result has been sent back to you. Nothing is kept. Files up to 25 MB are accepted.
How to convert PPT to TXT online
- Press "Choose PPT files" and select one or more files, or drag them onto the box. Files up to 25 MB each can be converted.
- There are no settings to choose: the converter keeps everything the target format can hold.
- Press "Convert to TXT". The file is uploaded to our conversion server, converted in a few seconds, and deleted together with the result as soon as the result is sent back.
- Save each TXT with its download button. Our server has already deleted both your PPT and the TXT by then.
Why convert PPT to TXT?
PPT files usually come from older presentations and slide decks from legacy systems. People convert them to TXT because plain text opens everywhere and is easy to search, copy, edit and paste into other tools.
In short, PPT is good at what it was made for, and TXT is the more practical choice when the file has to open, upload or print somewhere else. PPT opens in PowerPoint, Google Slides, Keynote and LibreOffice Impress, while TXT opens in every browser, text editor and phone.
How to convert PPT to TXT on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android
On Windows
Open this page in Chrome, Edge or Firefox, drag your PPT files in from File Explorer, and press Convert. Each TXT is saved to your Downloads folder.
On a Mac
Safari, Chrome and Firefox all work. Drag the PPT files from Finder onto the drop zone and the TXT files land in Downloads.
On iPhone and iPad
Open the page in Safari and tap Choose PPT files. You can pick from Photos or from the Files app. The converted TXT appears in Files, in the Downloads folder.
On Android
Open the page in Chrome, tap Choose PPT files and pick them from Files or your gallery. The TXT is saved to the Download folder, where any file manager can find it.
Best settings for PPT to TXT
There are no settings: every slide is read in order, and the text keeps the line breaks it has on the slide.
Bullet points come out as lines that start with the bullet character (•) rather than as Markdown list items, because a slide stores them as positioned text. Tidy them in your editor if you need a real list.
PPT vs TXT: the differences
| PPT | TXT | |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | PowerPoint 97 to 2003 presentation | Plain text |
| Type | presentation | document |
| Created by | Microsoft | no single author |
| First released | 1997 | 1963 |
| Compression | Lossless | Lossless |
| What it holds | slides with text, images and animations in a binary file | characters only, with no formatting |
| In a browser | opens in PowerPoint, Google Slides, Keynote and LibreOffice Impress | opens in every browser, text editor and phone |
| Common uses | older presentations and slide decks from legacy systems | notes, logs, extracted text and anything that must open everywhere |
| MIME type | application/vnd.ms-powerpoint | text/plain |
About PPT and TXT files
What is a PPT file?
PPT is the binary PowerPoint format used before 2007. Current versions of PowerPoint still open it, but save new presentations as PPTX.
What is a TXT file?
A TXT file holds nothing but characters: no fonts, images or layout. Modern text files are usually UTF-8, which covers every language.
PPT to TXT not working? Common problems
- "Files up to 25 MB can be converted." Server conversions have a size limit. Compress the images inside the file, or split it, and try again.
- "The conversion took too long and was stopped." Very long or complex files can pass the 90 second limit. Split the file and convert the parts.
- The file will not convert. It may be password protected, damaged, or saved in a newer or unusual version of the format.
Convert PPT to TXT from the command line
LibreOffice and MuPDF give you the text of each slide on your own computer:
soffice --headless --convert-to pdf input.ppt
mutool draw -F txt -o output.txt input.pdfConverting on your own computer keeps the file entirely local, which is worth it for very large or very sensitive documents. For everything else, the converter on this page does it without installing anything.
PPT to TXT converter FAQ
Will I lose quality converting PPT to TXT?
The words on every slide are kept exactly; the design is not, because plain text has no place for it.
Why is the TXT a different size from the PPT?
Much smaller than the PPT, because only the words are kept, without pictures, fonts or layout.
Are my PPT files uploaded?
Yes, for this conversion. A faithful PPT to TXT conversion needs LibreOffice and MuPDF, two open-source tools, which cannot run in a browser. The file travels over an encrypted connection, is converted in a private temporary folder, and is deleted together with the TXT as soon as the result has been sent back to you. We do not keep, read or share it.
Can I convert several PPT files to TXT at once?
Yes. Select or drop as many files as you like; they are converted one after another and each gets its own download button.
How do I open a TXT file?
TXT opens in every browser, text editor and phone. TXT is common for notes, logs, extracted text and anything that must open everywhere.
Is this PPT to TXT converter free?
Yes. There is no sign-up and no watermark. Because this conversion uses our server, there is a fair-use limit of 25 MB per file and a number of files per hour, which stops the service being overloaded.
Can I convert PPT to TXT on my phone?
Yes. It works in Safari on iPhone and iPad and in Chrome on Android. The conversion happens on our server, so it is as fast on a phone as on a computer; the TXT is saved to your Downloads folder.