TXT to Word
Convert .txt files saved in Notepad or by any program into editable Word documents (.docx)
Your files stay with you. Conversion happens inside the browser; no file is ever uploaded to a server.
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How it works
A common case: meeting notes you wrote in Notepad years ago, a report a device or program exported as .txt, or a text attachment from an email now has to be edited in Word. Tap or click the box to choose the files; you can pick several at once. Press Convert to Word and each file becomes a .docx with the same name: "meeting-notes.txt" becomes "meeting-notes.docx". The tool first checks the encoding. New files are UTF-8; files saved by older versions of Notepad are ANSI (Windows-1252 on English Windows), and other tools show their curly quotes or accented letters as ’ or é. This tool recognises such a file and reads it correctly, and the result line says which encoding it used. Blocks separated by a blank line become separate paragraphs, line breaks inside a block are kept and tabs become Word tabs. On this English page the paper is US Letter with 1-inch margins.
This tool is also known as txt to word, txt to docx, convert txt file to word, notepad to word, text file to word document.
What is TXT (plain text file)?
A TXT file holds only characters and line breaks: no bold, no font, no margins and no page size. Notepad files, device logs and many program exports use it. When the text moves into Word, the missing pieces (font, size, paper) come from the options you choose here; the only structure taken from the file itself is its line breaks and blank lines.
What is Character encoding (UTF-8, Windows-1252)?
An encoding is the table that says which letter each byte in a file stands for. UTF-8 covers every alphabet in the world and is today's default. Windows-1252, often called ANSI, is an older table for English and Western European letters that old Notepad used on English Windows. Read with the wrong table, the same file shows é as é and curly quotes as “.
TXT vs. DOCX: what is the difference?
TXT stores only the text; the program that opens it decides how it looks. DOCX also stores the font, size, paragraph spacing, heading styles and paper size, so the document looks the same on every computer and works with Word's headings, table of contents and bullet lists. The price is size and complexity: TXT opens in any program, while DOCX needs a word processor. A document for a school, an office or a client should be DOCX; program data and quick notes can stay TXT.
The encoding trap: where do ’ and é come from?
A text file stores letters as numbers, and the encoding decides which number means which letter. Almost every file today is UTF-8. Older Notepad, before the 2019 Windows 10 update, saved as ANSI by default, which on English Windows means Windows-1252. When a program opens such a file as UTF-8, or opens a UTF-8 file as ANSI, a curly apostrophe turns into ’ and é into é or a question-mark box.
This tool first looks for a byte order mark (BOM), then checks whether the bytes are valid UTF-8; if not, it reads the file with the page language's legacy Windows code page, Windows-1252 on this page. If the result line says "read as Windows-1252", the conversion was handled; inside the Word file the text is always UTF-8.
If the file is not text at all, say an image or a PDF picked by mistake, the tool warns you instead of producing a page full of garbage.
- UTF-8 (with or without BOM) → used as is
- UTF-16 (with BOM) → used as is
- Invalid UTF-8 → Windows-1252 (on this page)
- Not a text file → clear warning
Getting a tidy result in Word
Plain text has no paragraph mark, so a blank line marks a paragraph. Lines written one under another stay in one paragraph with their line breaks kept, so lists and addresses do not get merged. An old email export cut at every line stays short-lined in Word; use Find and Replace in Word to join those lines.
Reports whose columns are lined up with spaces lose their alignment in a proportional font. After converting, select all the text in Word and set the font to Consolas or Courier New; the columns line up again.
In files that contain a form feed (page break) character, the next paragraph starts on a new page, which keeps the page layout of old program printouts.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert a TXT file to Word?
Choose your .txt file on this page and press Convert to Word. The file is turned into a .docx in your browser and saved to your Downloads folder. You can also open a .txt in Word with File → Open and use Save As, but legacy-encoded files may show broken characters there; this tool detects the encoding for you.
Why did my apostrophes show up as ’?
The file was saved in one encoding and opened in another, usually ANSI (Windows-1252) read as UTF-8 or the other way round. This tool reads invalid UTF-8 as Windows-1252, so the characters come out right. The result line tells you which encoding was used.
Can I convert several files at once?
Yes. Choose several .txt files in the box; each one becomes its own Word document with the same name. To merge them into one document, combine the text first and paste it into the Text to Word tool.
Are my files uploaded to a server?
No. The file is read inside your browser and the Word document is created there too; nothing is sent over the internet. Once the page has loaded, the tool keeps working offline.