(With thanks to Tim Connor for the extension removal code - found at http://www.objectivelabs.com/scripts.php)
This code is a folder action that will take any Word readable file dropped in a folder and save it as plain text. Known to work for sure in Word 2004 running on OS X 10.4.11. I don’t have any other versions to test with. The commands are general enough that it should work for other versions of Word and OS X. This script requires there to be a folder called “Word to Text” within the folder linked to the action.
on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving added_items
repeat with i in added_items
tell application "Microsoft Word"
activate
open i without add to recent files
set fileName to name of active document
end tell
try
set N to count of characters of fileName
if (N > 3) and character (N - 3) of fileName is "." then
set fileName to characters 1 thru (N - 4) of fileName
set fileName to fileName as text
else
--there isn't an extension
end if
end try
set fileName to fileName & ".txt"
set newFolder to "Word to Text:"
set thePath to (this_folder & newFolder) as string
set theOutputPath to (thePath & fileName) as string
tell application "Microsoft Word"
save as active document file name theOutputPath file format format text
close active document without saving
end tell
end repeat
end adding folder items to
EDIT: I should note that this will have Word try to open ANYTHING you drop in the folder “ pictures, applications, folders, applescripts, etc. If Word doesn’t immediately recognize the file type, it will give you a box to choose which encoding you want to read something as.