Free online COLPKG to TXT converter

What the COLPKG format is

.colpkg is Anki's collection package format. Anki creates it when you export a collection or make a portable collection backup. The package can contain the collection database, notes, cards, decks, scheduling data, and optionally associated media. You normally encounter it when receiving an Anki deck, moving a collection between devices, or restoring a backup.

A COLPKG file is not a conventional document containing readable paragraphs. It is a package intended to be imported by Anki, so renaming it to .txt or opening it directly in a text editor will not produce a usable conversion.

What the TXT format is

.txt stores unformatted character data. It opens in Notepad, TextEdit, code editors, spreadsheet applications, and document-management systems without requiring Anki.

For Anki data, the useful TXT output is a tab-separated note export: each line represents a note, and tab-separated columns represent fields such as the front, back, extra information, and tags. TXT is suitable for searching, batch editing, importing into other systems, and long-term content archiving.

How to actually convert COLPKG to TXT

Using Anki Desktop

1. Install and open Anki Desktop.
2. Use a separate temporary Anki profile if you do not want the package merged into your existing collection. Choose Switch Profile or create a new profile before importing.
3. Import the package with File → Import, then select the .colpkg file. Anki may also import it when you open the file directly.
4. After the collection loads, choose File → Export.
5. Set the export format to Notes in plain text or the equivalent plain-text note format.
6. Select the deck or collection scope required by the export dialog. Enable tag export if tags are needed, and choose whether HTML markup should remain in fields.
7. Save the result with a .txt extension and select UTF-8 encoding when Anki offers an encoding option.

The resulting file is normally tab-separated rather than comma-separated. Open it in a spreadsheet only after confirming that the import settings use tab as the delimiter and UTF-8 as the character encoding.

Using the online converter

You can convert the file on 101convert.com for free without installing software. Upload the COLPKG file, select TXT as the output format, start the conversion, and download the generated file. For collections containing important notes, compare the output with Anki because generic extraction may not reproduce deck selection, tags, HTML fields, cloze syntax, or media references exactly.

Quality and compatibility limits

A plain-text export preserves note values, but it does not preserve Anki's card templates, review history, scheduling state, deck hierarchy, card suspension state, or interactive study behavior. Images, audio, and video are not embedded in TXT; Anki may leave HTML or media references such as <img> tags in exported fields.

If the notes contain tabs or line breaks, Anki's export quoting or escaping must remain intact. Do not remove tabs or alter line endings with a basic editor before importing the file elsewhere. Cloze notes can also retain Anki-specific markers such as {{c1::answer}}, which are meaningful in Anki but not rendered as cloze cards by ordinary text applications.