open MS Word files

[Stephen Quinn Barncard]

The 'gibberish' of course is the MS Word formatting.
M$ holds the formats it creates dearly to its wallet and changes them 
every couple of years to keep us in line to buy new versions of 
bloated software. The basic word format however has stayed the same 
from W97 thru the current version, including Mac, according to MS.


I was going to suggest using Applescripts to batch-convert all the 
files to .txt , but I see you're on a PC. Sorry.

I suppose it's possible to detect the version and hack out the text.
sqb


sqb

>I want to open MS Word files and save the text for use in a Rev app.
>If I open a MS Word doc I have the gibberish chars to deal with.
>
>Is there any way to grab the text from a MS Word file without the gibberish?
>
>Is there a way (with a PC) to have MS Word open a doc and then save it as
>a text file but have it all done in the background...not require the 
>user to do
>this but have it done with a Rev app?
>
>The text formatting is not crucial as these files will be used in an app
>for the blind and read with the speech capability.
>
>tia
>
>sims