Introduction

Stencila provides support for conversion of documents to plain text. This format is intentionally lossy and only useful when you explicitly want a plain text representation of a document (i.e. lacking structure such as headings and links).

Usage

Use the .txt file extension, or the --to text option, when converting to/from plain text e.g.

stencila convert doc.smd doc.txt

Support

Stencila supports these operations for Plain text:

decoding from a file
decoding from a string
encoding to a file
encoding to a string

Support and degree of loss by node type:

Node type	Encoding	Decoding	Notes
Works
Article	⚠️ High loss
AudioObject	⚠️ High loss
AuthorRole	⚠️ High loss
Chat	⚠️ High loss
ChatMessage	⚠️ High loss
ChatMessageGroup	⚠️ High loss
Claim	⚠️ High loss
Collection	⚠️ High loss
Comment	⚠️ High loss
CreativeWork	⚠️ High loss
Directory	⚠️ High loss
Figure	⚠️ High loss
File	⚠️ High loss
ImageObject	⚠️ High loss
MediaObject	⚠️ High loss
Periodical	⚠️ High loss
Prompt	⚠️ High loss
PublicationIssue	⚠️ High loss
PublicationVolume	⚠️ High loss
Review	⚠️ High loss
SoftwareApplication	⚠️ High loss
SoftwareSourceCode	⚠️ High loss
Table	⚠️ High loss
TableCell	⚠️ High loss
TableRow	⚠️ High loss
VideoObject	⚠️ High loss
Prose
Admonition	⚠️ High loss
Annotation	⚠️ High loss
Cite	⚠️ High loss
CiteGroup	⚠️ High loss
DefinedTerm	⚠️ High loss
Emphasis	⚠️ High loss
Heading	⚠️ High loss
Link	⚠️ High loss
List	⚠️ High loss
ListItem	⚠️ High loss
Note	⚠️ High loss
Paragraph	⚠️ High loss
QuoteBlock	⚠️ High loss
QuoteInline	⚠️ High loss
Section	⚠️ High loss
Strikeout	⚠️ High loss
Strong	⚠️ High loss
Subscript	⚠️ High loss
Superscript	⚠️ High loss
Text	🟢 No loss
ThematicBreak	⚠️ High loss
Underline	⚠️ High loss
Math
MathBlock	⚠️ High loss
MathInline	⚠️ High loss
Code
CodeBlock	⚠️ High loss
CodeChunk	⚠️ High loss
CodeExpression	⚠️ High loss
CodeInline	⚠️ High loss
CompilationMessage	⚠️ High loss
ExecutionMessage	⚠️ High loss
Data
Array	⚠️ High loss
ArrayHint	⚠️ High loss
ArrayValidator	⚠️ High loss
Boolean	🔷 Low loss
BooleanValidator	⚠️ High loss
ConstantValidator	⚠️ High loss
Cord	⚠️ High loss
Datatable	⚠️ High loss
DatatableColumn	⚠️ High loss
DatatableColumnHint	⚠️ High loss
DatatableHint	⚠️ High loss
Date	⚠️ High loss
DateTime	⚠️ High loss
DateTimeValidator	⚠️ High loss
DateValidator	⚠️ High loss
Duration	⚠️ High loss
DurationValidator	⚠️ High loss
EnumValidator	⚠️ High loss
Integer	🔷 Low loss
IntegerValidator	⚠️ High loss
Null	🔷 Low loss
Number	🔷 Low loss
NumberValidator	⚠️ High loss
Object	⚠️ High loss
ObjectHint	⚠️ High loss
String	🟢 No loss
StringHint	⚠️ High loss
StringValidator	⚠️ High loss
Time	⚠️ High loss
TimeValidator	⚠️ High loss
Timestamp	⚠️ High loss
TimestampValidator	⚠️ High loss
TupleValidator	⚠️ High loss
Unknown	⚠️ High loss
UnsignedInteger	🔷 Low loss
Flow
Button	⚠️ High loss
CallArgument	⚠️ High loss
CallBlock	⚠️ High loss
CodeLocation	⚠️ High loss
CompilationDigest	⚠️ High loss
ExecutionDependant	⚠️ High loss
ExecutionDependency	⚠️ High loss
ExecutionTag	⚠️ High loss
ForBlock	⚠️ High loss
Form	⚠️ High loss
Function	⚠️ High loss
IfBlock	⚠️ High loss
IfBlockClause	⚠️ High loss
IncludeBlock	⚠️ High loss
Parameter	⚠️ High loss
Variable	⚠️ High loss
Walkthrough	⚠️ High loss
WalkthroughStep	⚠️ High loss
Style
StyledBlock	⚠️ High loss
StyledInline	⚠️ High loss
Edits
InstructionBlock	⚠️ High loss
InstructionInline	⚠️ High loss
InstructionMessage	⚠️ High loss
PromptBlock	⚠️ High loss
SuggestionBlock	⚠️ High loss
SuggestionInline	⚠️ High loss
Config
Config	⚠️ High loss
Other
Brand	⚠️ High loss
ContactPoint	⚠️ High loss
Enumeration	⚠️ High loss
Grant	⚠️ High loss
ModelParameters	⚠️ High loss
MonetaryGrant	⚠️ High loss
Organization	⚠️ High loss
Person	⚠️ High loss
PostalAddress	⚠️ High loss
Product	⚠️ High loss
PropertyValue	⚠️ High loss
ProvenanceCount	⚠️ High loss
RawBlock	⚠️ High loss
Thing	⚠️ High loss

See the Rust crate codec-text for more details.