From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Tim X Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: How to convert .doc to plain text ascii in emacs. Date: Sun, 02 May 2004 18:57:14 +1000 Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Message-ID: <87d65n1a1h.fsf@tiger.rapttech.com.au> References: Reply-To: timx@spamto.devnul.com NNTP-Posting-Host: deer.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1083488576 30807 80.91.224.253 (2 May 2004 09:02:56 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 2 May 2004 09:02:56 +0000 (UTC) Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sun May 02 11:02:49 2004 Return-path: Original-Received: from monty-python.gnu.org ([199.232.76.173]) by deer.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1BKCs5-00048l-00 for ; Sun, 02 May 2004 11:02:49 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.30) id 1BKCqB-00056j-O1 for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Sun, 02 May 2004 05:00:51 -0400 Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help User-Agent: Gnus/5.1006 (Gnus v5.10.6) Emacs/21.3 (gnu/linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:8cKEwjyWA27ALuUUKojWliUKmhc= Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: ppp104-226.lns1.syd3.internode.on.net Original-X-Trace: duster.adelaide.on.net 1083488224 150.101.104.226 (2 May 2004 18:27:04 +0950) Original-Lines: 41 Original-Path: shelby.stanford.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!cyclone.bc.net!HSNX.atgi.net!cyclone-sf.pbi.net!129.250.175.17!pln-w!lotsanews.com!sjc-feed.news.verio.net!duster.adelaide.on.net!not-for-mail Original-Xref: shelby.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:122908 Original-To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.4 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:18195 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.help:18195 >>>>> "Don" == Don Saklad writes: Don> What related emacs commands are there that might convert an Don> rmail attachment from .doc to plain text ascii ?... Don> It is an rmail message distributed from local government about Don> an upcoming public hearing. There are two solutions I've used for this. The first is a set of utilities called wvWare - I think they are related to abiword. At any rate, if your using Debian, just install wv. The second product I've used is one called catdoc. Its not quite as powerful, but works reasonably well. If your using VM as your mail reader, its trivial to configure it to run either the wv utility or catdoc on the attachment and have it display in the buffer as text. With wv, I think you also have the option to have it rendered as HTML as well. As a last resort, you could use "strings" on the document to get the content, but you will probably have a fair amount of crap mixed in with it. Note that the only time I've found the wv utilities have failed is when I've recieved attachments witht e msword mime type, but which are actually M$ bloody RTF format. I have'nt worked out a reliable way to translate M$ RTF (which is not the rich text format we all knew a decade ago!). I would also contact the authority who send word documents and request they use a less proprietry format - even PDF is better! tim -- Tim Cross The e-mail address on this message is FALSE (obviously!). My real e-mail is to a company in Australia called rapttech and my login is tcross - if you really need to send mail, you should be able to work it out!