How do I convert photos to .txt or .rtf formats on iPad?

Changing file extensions will not convert the images to text or rich text format (RTF).

If there is text in the images, you may be able to open the existing images, select the text using Live Text, and then copy/paste that text selection into Pages for iPadOS where it can be exported to plain text or RTF if those are the requirements.

Most folks here would send your file to a computer and convert it to a pdf there. Everyone can read pdf, and pdf emails, uploads, and texts well. To be clear, txt and rtf are not appropriate.

As far as I can tell, on the iPad you need a 3rd Party app. In the app store I see a Photos to PDF Converter app that costs $4 for a year. I haven't tried it, or the others. "Photo to PDF Converter Scanner" seems to be free, with a 4.8 rating from 8000 users. I'd try the free one first!

Good luck!

SteelCityAnne wrote:

Reply to VikingOSX

Thank you for your support VikingOSX . The pictures are of documents so they're all text . It worked for one of them , the other one has text with a square around it ,

when I use the grab bar it highlights all of the other headings too ?

Those files are image files, not text files.

To extract the text, highlight the text and select Copy from the pop-up. Then paste the text where you want it — such as into a new text file format file — and then check the text for errors.

In general terms, this sequence is known as optical text recognition or OCR.

If you’re doing a lot of this, then there are other ways, including potentially using a custom shortcut and the Shortcuts app.

You are not working with text documents. You are working with images. These images happen to contain photos or scans of text documents, and those photos or scans are stored as images; as image files. Again, you are working with images and image files, not with text and text files, and with not RTF files.

Here is how to copy text using the Photos app Live Text feature:

Copy and translate text from photos on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

Older iPhone and iPad models do not offer Live Text.

If you don’t want to run a Shortcut to perform the OCR, that’s your choice.

Shortcuts also don’t have to run in the background (and most don’t), they can run only when specifically invoked.

Hello SteelCityAnne,

In the Files app, long-press the file/image, choose Quick Actions > Convert Image and choose either JPEG or PNG, which are 2 very common file formats.

To the best of my knowledge, you can't convert a picture to a text or rich text file.

Is your recipient (an actual person) telling you that they can't use that file type? Or are you getting a warning from the app you're using? If so, what app?

I think most people here are confusing the ask because of the ".txt" in the subject.

Reading more deeply, it sounds like the OP is trying to submit an image to their insurance provider and the provider's web site is configured to accept certain file types only. The default .IMG isn't one of them, since that's kind of Mac-specific. JPEG and PDF are two more common formats they're likely to accept.

So the question really is "how do I convert these .img files into JPEG (.jpg) or PDF (.pdf). Ignore the '.txt reference.

The easiest way, by far, is to use Preview.app. Chances are just double-clicking on the .img file in the Finder will open in Preview, from here you can choose File -> Export... and choose JPEG from the subsequent dialog. Preview will convert the image to a .jpg file which should work fine.

Finder and Preview are scarce on an iPad… 🧐