This document is specifically focused on the early stages of working on an
Avalon Travel Publishing manuscript, which is traditionally delivered in Word
format.  Why get your manuscript from the publisher in the first place?
Because numerous editorial changes happened to your manuscript in the time
since you delivered it, and the only way to begin work on a subsequent version
is by getting a copy of the latest and greatest from your publisher.  But this
document is also a useful tool for anyone who wants to convert a large number
of Word documents to Text for any reason.  And if you haven't got a reason of
your own, let me give you one: proprietary document formats are poison whose
sole purpose is to lock you into one vendor and their software
"solutions" for as long as you are able to pay.  Choose freedom.


1. First, get the "Convert Text Files" Action from Armins' Automator
Actions and install the .action file into your Library/Automator folder.

2. Now download my Automator Script, which makes use of the text conversion
capability you just acquired from Armin.  Unzip it and save it wherever you'd
like and then double click it to start Automator running.  Automator will let
you know if any necessary components are missing.  You would get an error
message, for example, if you performed this step without having first performed
step one.

3. Convert away!  Run the Automator script, select the Word doc files you would
like to convert to text files, and save them when prompted.  If your ultimate
goal is to work with them either in Jedit or another text editor, save them as
type .avl so your text editor recognizes them as Avalon files.  Caveat: the
script saves text files with the UTF-8 encoding, which means they will not look
right unless you open them using the same encoding in your text editor.  For
example, if you open the text document using TextEdit, Macintosh's preferred
text editor, make sure to select the "Plain text encoding: UTF-8"
option from the bottom of the Open File dialog.

There's a more technical way, if you are comfortable at the command line
prompt.  This script makes use of the textutil program standard on Mac OS X.
From the command line you can issue a:

textutil -convert txt -encoding mac crap.doc


to change the crap.doc Word document to a text file with the same name and Mac
Roman encoding (that is, not UTF-8).  Build this into a bash script and crank
away.

For more information about working on your Avalon manuscripts using all the
power of Jedit's macros, syntax highlighting, and search/replace functionality,
continuing reading Woodnotes Guide to Using Jedit for Avalon Publishing
Documents.  If you are more of a command prompt junkie, you might be interested
in my Vim page.

Lastly, if this floats your boat, then welcome to the fun world of scripting.
I have learned a lot from loafing around Automator World, a site whose motto,
"Better living through Macintosh Scripting" pretty much spells it
out.  It's more fun to spend time building a system to save time subsequently
than to waste time on each occasion you are faced with the task.