Convert LQM to TEXT

LG QuickMemo notes need conversion when they must be edited, searched, or shared with software that cannot open an .lqm backup. A compatible LG phone is usually the safest place to extract the note because desktop applications do not consistently understand every QuickMemo version.

What the LQM format is

LQM is the backup format used by LG QuickMemo and QuickMemo+ on selected Android phones. An LQM file may contain typed text, metadata, drawings, images, and other application resources. It is normally created when notes are exported or backed up from an LG device.

LQM has no single publicly consistent structure across all LG phone and application versions. Some files use ZIP-style packaging, while others include application-specific databases or resources. Renaming .lqm to .txt changes only the filename extension; it does not decode the note.

What the TEXT format is

A plain-text file, normally saved with a .txt extension, contains characters without QuickMemo layout data, drawing layers, images, or application-specific metadata. It opens in Notepad, TextEdit, Vim, LibreOffice, code editors, document-management systems, and command-line tools.

Plain text is suitable for searching, indexing, copying, and archiving typed content. It cannot preserve handwriting, colors, positioned annotations, images, checkboxes, or most formatting. Use PDF, HTML, or an image export when the visual appearance of the note must remain intact.

Convert the note with QuickMemo+

1. Keep the original .lqm file unchanged and make a backup copy.
2. Import or restore the backup in LG QuickMemo or QuickMemo+ on a compatible LG phone. The required application and import options vary by model and Android version.
3. Open the note and use the application's Menu → Share, Export, or Save as command if available.
4. If QuickMemo offers a text or plain-text destination, save it as note.txt. Otherwise, select the typed content, copy it, paste it into a text editor, and save the file as UTF-8.
5. Reopen note.txt and check accented characters, line breaks, bullets, and other content before discarding the LQM backup.

Menu names and export types differ between QuickMemo releases. Some versions export only an image or PDF; those options do not create a true plain-text file. Copying typed text from the restored note is the most dependable fallback when the original phone still works.

Inspect an LQM file on a computer

1. Work on a copy such as note-copy.lqm, never on the only backup.
2. Open the copy with 7-Zip using 7-Zip → Open archive. If it is not recognized, make a second copy named note-copy.zip and test that copy; do not rename the original.
3. If an archive opens, extract it to a new folder with 7-Zip → Extract to.
4. Inspect the extracted files for HTML, XML, JSON, a database, or readable text. Filenames and structures differ by QuickMemo version.
5. Convert an extracted HTML file to plain text with Pandoc:

pandoc extracted-note.html -f html -t plain -o note.txt

If the extracted file is already readable text, save a copy as note.txt using UTF-8. If it is a SQLite database, inspect it with sqlite3, identify the relevant table with .tables and PRAGMA table_info(table_name);, and export only the column containing note text. Table and column names are version-specific, so a generic extraction command cannot be supplied safely.

On Windows, choose File → Save as → Encoding: UTF-8 in an editor that provides encoding control. On macOS or Linux, convert a known source encoding with iconv -f SOURCE_ENCODING -t UTF-8 input.txt > note.txt; do not guess the source encoding if the characters already display correctly.

Online converters and compatibility limits

General online services such as CloudConvert and Zamzar do not consistently list LQM as a supported input format, so they should not be treated as dependable LQM converters. Use an online service only if its current input list explicitly names the exact LQM format and the note does not contain confidential information. Uploading a private QuickMemo backup exposes its contents to the service.

An LQM file that 7-Zip cannot open is not necessarily corrupt; it may require the matching QuickMemo application or an LG phone. Restore and export it on the original device, or on a compatible device with the same application generation, instead of trying more filename changes.

Typed characters generally transfer better than drawings. Handwriting and annotations stored as raster images or drawing data require OCR, and handwriting OCR must be proofread. Images, page positions, colors, formatting, and embedded objects can be lost even when the typed text is recovered successfully.