Color Text to PDF
Color-formatted text files — RTF documents, HTML with inline styles, or styled text from a word processor — lose their formatting when saved as plain .txt. If you need to preserve colored headings, highlighted passages, or color-coded sections in a PDF, you need a converter that reads the style information alongside the text content.
This tool converts color-formatted text to PDF with color and styling preserved.
How to Convert Color Text to PDF
- Upload your styled text file — RTF, or HTML with inline CSS styles work best.
- Check the preview to confirm colors and text formatting look correct.
- Click Convert. The tool renders the styled content and embeds it in a PDF page.
- Download. If colors appear wrong, the issue is usually the source format — try exporting from your word processor as RTF.
Color Formatting Support by Input Format
| Input format | Color support | Font styles | Best approach |
|---|---|---|---|
| RTF | Full color | Bold, italic, underline | Export from Word as RTF |
| HTML with inline CSS | Full color | All CSS text properties | Use style= attributes on elements |
| Plain .txt | None | None | Use MD to PDF or HTML to PDF instead |
| Markdown | Limited | Bold, italic only | MD to PDF handles this better |
Things to Know
- Plain .txt files have no color information — the tool cannot add colors to a plain text file. Format it as HTML with inline styles first.
- ANSI color codes used in terminal output are not document color formatting and will not convert correctly.
- Very pale colors that look distinct on screen may appear nearly invisible when printed. Check the PDF on a calibrated screen before sharing.
- For print-accurate color, use your word processor’s native PDF export rather than a third-party converter.
Common Questions
Upload your RTF or HTML file with color formatting and click Convert. The tool preserves text colors, highlights, and font styles. Plain .txt files have no color data to preserve.
Your file is likely plain text (.txt) which has no color information. Save the document as RTF from your word processor, or format it as HTML with inline style= attributes, then convert.
ANSI escape codes are not standard document color formatting. First render your terminal output through a tool like Carbon or Ansi2html to produce styled HTML, then convert that HTML to PDF.
Highlighting is preserved if the source file includes it as a background color property — common in RTF and HTML. Highlighting applied in Microsoft Word exports correctly via RTF format.
About this tool: Color Text to PDF runs entirely in your browser. No software to install, no account required. Files are deleted automatically. See our Privacy Policy.
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