Exporting a UTF-8 .txt file from Word

Alignment requires that text be entered in plain text, and cannot accept text with special formatting. Use these steps to export a Word document file ( which has special formatting ) as a UTF-8 plain text ( .txt ) document. 

Prerequisites

• Ensure that the content of the text in your file follows our best practices for alignment, as described in the article linked here. 

Steps to Export a Word Document as UTF-8 Plain Text

Step 1: Open the file in Microsoft Word.

Step 2: Click “File”, and then  “Save as” in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. 

Step 3: Select “Plain Text” as the format. 

• This will save the file in a plain text format. 

Step 4: Choose UTF-8 Encoding 

• After you click save, a pop-up appears. 
• Under Text Encoding, choose Other Encoding.
• Then from the list of options select Unicode 6.0 UTF-8 and click OK.

Step 5: Prepare the File for Alignment

• Close Microsoft Word completely. 
• Open the file using a generic text editor (e.g., Notepad, TextEdit, or similar).

• Use this version of the file when copying transcripts for the Alignment Service.