Free online CLIPPING to TXT converter

A macOS text clipping may need conversion when it must be edited, searched, archived, or opened on software that does not support Apple’s clipping format. TXT provides a smaller, broadly compatible plain-text file for sharing and long-term storage.

What the CLIPPING format is

In the text-files context, CLIPPING refers to a saved text snippet, usually created by dragging selected text from an application to the macOS Finder or desktop. Apple commonly gives these files the .textClipping extension; file catalogs and conversion tools may label the format CLIPPING.

A text clipping is not a standardized document format. It can contain the selected characters together with rich-text attributes and macOS-specific metadata, so support depends on the application and operating system that created it. macOS users typically create clippings for short passages they want to reuse or keep temporarily.

What the TXT format is

TXT stores character data as plain text without fonts, colors, page layout, images, or application-specific document structures. Text editors, scripts, terminals, databases, and archival systems can read it with little format overhead.

TXT is suitable when portability, searchability, and simple editing matter more than formatting. UTF-8 is the preferred encoding for new files because it supports characters from most writing systems across current operating systems.

How to convert CLIPPING to TXT

Using the converter on 101convert.com:

1. Open the CLIPPING conversion page on 101convert.com.
2. Upload the .textClipping file, select TXT as the output format, and start the conversion.
3. Download the resulting .txt file and open it in a plain-text editor.

This method does not require software installation. Check the output before deleting the original clipping.

Using macOS and TextEdit:

1. Open TextEdit and use File → Open, or drag the clipping into a TextEdit window. If TextEdit cannot display the content, use the converter or the application that created the clipping.
2. Check that the complete snippet appears. Select the text with Command-A and copy it with Command-C if a new document is needed.
3. Create a document with File → New. Select Format → Make Plain Text before pasting content from a rich-text clipping.
4. Paste the text and choose File → Save. Use a filename ending in .txt, confirm plain-text format, and select UTF-8 if TextEdit shows an encoding option.

Quality and compatibility limitations

Conversion to TXT removes fonts, colors, links, images, tables, layout, and other rich-text or clipping metadata. The visible wording normally remains, but formatting-dependent information does not.

After conversion, inspect accented characters, non-Latin text, quotation marks, and line breaks. An incorrect encoding can produce replacement symbols or garbled characters. Different applications can also interpret line endings differently, although current macOS, Windows, and Linux editors generally handle common line-ending styles.

Do not merely rename .textClipping to .txt; changing the filename does not convert the file structure. If the clipping contains unsupported data or TextEdit shows unreadable content, use the original creating application or a format-aware converter.