Extract text from BBEdit Text Factory files (TEXTFACTORY)
To convert TEXTFACTORY Text Factory files to another format, you need BBEdit or other Developer software.
To convert other file formats to the "Text Transformation Macro" file type, you need software like BBEdit or a similar tool.
A .textfactory file is a batch text processing script created by BBEdit, a macOS text editor by Bare Bones Software. It stores a sequence of operations - such as multi-file grep searches, text replacements, case modifications, and AppleScript triggers - used to automate repetitive text editing tasks.
The main disadvantage of this format is its strict ecosystem lock-in. .textfactory files are proprietary to BBEdit and macOS. They are completely useless on Windows or Linux operating systems, and executing the full macro pipeline natively often requires an active BBEdit license. You cannot simply convert a .textfactory file into a generic Windows batch file or Python script, because the instructions rely directly on BBEdit's internal text-handling engine and specific PCRE regex implementations.
Standard online converters fail to process this format because they attempt to treat it as standard document text rather than a proprietary macro structure. If you need to access the logic inside the file but do not have a Mac, your best conversion targets are plain TXT or XML. Under the hood, a .textfactory is structured as an Apple Property List (.plist). Explain clearly why standard online converters fail to process it: the file relies on closed-source software execution. However, our analysis detects the underlying XML structure, allowing you to extract the raw search patterns and logic, even if you cannot execute the script directly.
Convert.Guru analyzes your TEXTFACTORY file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
If you want to convert TEXTFACTORY file to , you can use BBEdit or similar software from the "Text Batch Processing Script" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert files to TEXTFACTORY, try BBEdit or another comparable tool in the "Text Batch Processing Script" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our TEXTFACTORY converter.