SHA to TXT Converter

SHA to TXT Conversion Explained

Converting .SHA to .TXT extracts the text content from a SmartSketch drawing and discards all graphical elements. Users convert .SHA to .TXT to pull out part numbers, annotations, equipment tags, or Bill of Materials (BOM) data for use in spreadsheets or databases. You gain raw text data but permanently lose all lines, shapes, dimensions, and visual layouts. This conversion is a bad idea if you need to view or edit the actual diagram. It is strictly useful for data extraction.

Typical Tasks and Users

• Piping and Instrumentation Engineers: Extracting equipment tags and valve numbers from legacy diagrams to populate a database.
• Data Analysts: Pulling Bill of Materials (BOM) text from multiple drawings to estimate project costs or manage inventory.
• Archivists: Indexing the text content of old engineering drawings to make them searchable in a corporate document management system.

Software & Tool Support

• SmartSketch: The official 2D drafting software by Hexagon natively opens .SHA files. Users can often export reports or use internal VBA macros to dump text properties to a file.
• Text Editors: Any standard editor like Notepad++ or Visual Studio Code opens the resulting .TXT files.
• Custom Scripts: Engineers frequently write custom VBScript or Python scripts using the SmartSketch API to iterate through drawing objects and write text attributes to a .TXT file.

Pros and Cons of the Conversion

• Pros:

  • Universal Compatibility: .TXT files open on any operating system without expensive CAD software licenses.
  • Searchability: Plain text is easily indexed by search engines, grep tools, and document systems.
  • File Size: Text files are extremely small compared to binary CAD files.

• Cons:

  • Total Graphic Loss: All geometry, lines, symbols, and borders are permanently deleted.
  • Loss of Context: Text labels lose their spatial relationship to the drawing. You will not know which label belongs to which mechanical component.
  • Formatting Loss: Fonts, colors, text sizes, and table structures are stripped away.

Conversion Difficulties & Why Convert.Guru

The .SHA format is a proprietary binary format. You cannot simply rename the file extension to read the text. Extracting text requires parsing the internal object structure of the SmartSketch file, identifying text nodes, and ignoring geometric data. Often, text is embedded inside grouped symbols or custom attributes, making manual extraction difficult without the host application.

Convert.Guru simplifies this process. Our conversion engine parses the .SHA file structure, locates text elements, and extracts them into a clean .TXT file. This saves you from writing custom API scripts or buying expensive CAD licenses just to read drawing labels.

SHA vs. TXT: What is the better choice?

Which format should you choose?

Choose .SHA if you need to view, edit, or print the actual engineering drawing. The visual layout is critical for understanding technical diagrams. Choose .TXT only if you need to extract raw data, such as part numbers or equipment tags, for a database. If you want to share the drawing with someone who does not have SmartSketch, do not convert .SHA to .TXT. Instead, convert .SHA to .PDF for viewing or .DXF for use in other CAD programs.

Conclusion

Converting .SHA to .TXT makes sense only for data extraction and text indexing. The biggest limitation is the complete destruction of all visual geometry and spatial context. If you need to pull annotations and BOM data from legacy SmartSketch drawings without writing custom code or installing CAD software, Convert.Guru provides a fast, reliable, and automated extraction tool.