PCBDOC to TXT Converter

PCBDOC to TXT Conversion Explained

Converting .PCBDOC to .TXT extracts text-based data—such as a Bill of Materials (BOM), Pick and Place coordinates, or netlists—from an Altium Designer printed circuit board file. When you convert a PCB design to a plain text file, all complex 2D and 3D graphical routing, copper layers, and design rules are discarded. Only structured alphanumeric data remains.

You gain universal readability, tiny file sizes, and data that is easy to parse with scripts. You lose the entire physical layout of the circuit board. This conversion is a bad idea if you need to view the board layout or manufacture the bare PCB. It is strictly a data extraction process.

Typical Tasks and Users

• Procurement Managers: Generating plain text BOMs to import component lists into ERP systems like SAP or Oracle.
• Manufacturing Technicians: Exporting X/Y coordinate lists (Pick and Place data) to program automated surface-mount technology (SMT) assembly machines.
• Hardware Engineers: Extracting netlists to verify electrical connections, run external simulations, or compare design revisions in text-based version control systems like Git.
• Software Developers: Writing Python scripts to parse component data for custom reporting without needing an expensive CAD license.

Software & Tool Support

• Altium Designer: The native, paid software. It can export BOMs, netlists, and coordinate files directly to .TXT or .CSV. It can also save the entire board in an "Altium ASCII" format.
• Altium 365 Viewer: A free web viewer that allows some data inspection, though export capabilities are limited.
• KiCad: A free, open-source EDA tool. It can import some Altium ASCII files, which can then be exported to text-based reports.
• Notepad++ or VS Code: Standard text editors used to open, read, and edit the resulting .TXT files.

Pros and Cons of the Conversion

• Pro - Universal Compatibility: .TXT files open instantly on any operating system without requiring specialized CAD software.
• Pro - Automation: Plain text is easy to parse with Python, grep, or custom manufacturing scripts.
• Pro - File Size: Text files are extremely small compared to binary PCB files containing 3D models.
• Con - Total Graphic Loss: Copper traces, vias, silkscreen graphics, and board outlines disappear completely.
• Con - Context Loss: A text list of coordinates does not show how components physically interact or if they violate clearance rules.
• Con - One-Way Process: You cannot convert a .TXT BOM or netlist back into a routed .PCBDOC file.

Conversion Difficulties & Why Convert.Guru

The main technical difficulty in this conversion is that .PCBDOC is a proprietary, complex format. Modern Altium files use a binary OLE compound document structure. You cannot simply rename the file extension to .TXT; doing so results in unreadable gibberish.

A proper conversion pipeline must read the binary Altium structure, identify the requested data tables (such as components, nets, or coordinates), format them into delimited strings, and output a clean text file. Convert.Guru handles this proprietary parsing securely in the cloud. It extracts the necessary tabular data into clean .TXT format, allowing you to access critical board data without requiring a costly Altium license or complex local scripts.

PCBDOC vs. TXT: What is the better choice?

Which format should you choose?

Choose .PCBDOC when you are actively designing a circuit board, routing traces, modifying footprints, or sharing the complete project with another hardware engineer.

Choose .TXT when you need to send a component list to purchasing, feed assembly coordinates to a pick-and-place machine, or track netlist changes in version control.

Avoid this conversion if you need to send the board to a fabrication house to manufacture the bare PCB. For manufacturing, you must export to Gerber (RS-274X/X2), NC Drill, or ODB++ formats instead.

Conclusion

Converting .PCBDOC to .TXT makes sense only when you need to extract specific alphanumeric data—like a BOM or assembly coordinates—for use outside the Altium ecosystem. The biggest limitation to watch for is the absolute loss of all graphical layout and routing geometry; this is a one-way data extraction, not a visual translation. Convert.Guru is a reliable choice to convert pcbdoc to txt because it accurately parses proprietary Altium data structures and delivers clean, structured text files instantly, saving you from expensive software dependencies.