rtfparse 0.8.2

Tool to parse Microsoft Rich Text Format (RTF)

rtfparse

RTF Parser. So far it can only de-encapsulate HTML content from an RTF, but it properly parses the RTF structure and allows you to write your own custom RTF renderers. The HTML de-encapsulator provided with rtfparse is just one such custom renderer which liberates the HTML content from its RTF encapsulation and saves it in a given html file.

rtfparse can also decompressed RTF from MS Outlook .msg files and parse that.

Installation

Install rtfparse from your local repository with pip:

pip install rtfparse

Installation creates an executable file rtfparse in your python scripts folder which should be in your $PATH.

Usage From Command Line

Use the rtfparse executable from the command line. Read rtfparse --help.

rtfparse writes logs into ~/rtfparse/ into these files:

rtfparse.debug.log
rtfparse.info.log
rtfparse.errors.log

Example: De-encapsulate HTML from an uncompressed RTF file

rtfparse --rtf-file "path/to/rtf_file.rtf" --de-encapsulate-html --output-file "path/to/extracted.html"

Example: De-encapsulate HTML from MS Outlook email file

Thanks to extract_msg and compressed_rtf, rtfparse internally uses them:

rtfparse --msg-file "path/to/email.msg" --de-encapsulate-html --output-file "path/to/extracted.html"

Example: Only decompress the RTF from MS Outlook email file

rtfparse --msg-file "path/to/email.msg" --output-file "path/to/extracted.rtf"

Example: De-encapsulate HTML from MS Outlook email file and save (and later embed) the attachments

When extracting the RTF from the .msg file, you can save the attachments (which includes images embedded in the email text) in a directory:

rtfparse --msg-file "path/to/email.msg" --output-file "path/to/extracted.rtf" --attachments-dir "path/to/dir"

In rtfparse version 1.x you will be able to embed these images in the de-encapsulated HTML. This functionality will be provided by the package embedimg.

rtfparse --msg-file "path/to/email.msg" --output-file "path/to/extracted.rtf" --attachments-dir "path/to/dir" --embed-img

In the current version the option --embed-img does nothing.

Programatic usage in python module

from pathlib import Path
from rtfparse.parser import Rtf_Parser
from rtfparse.renderers.de_encapsulate_html import De_encapsulate_HTML

source_path = Path(r"path/to/your/rtf/document.rtf")
target_path = Path(r"path/to/your/html/de_encapsulated.html")
# Create parent directory of `target_path` if it does not already exist:
target_path.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)


parser = Rtf_Parser(rtf_path=source_path)
parsed = parser.parse_file()

renderer = De_encapsulate_HTML()

with open(target_path, mode="w", encoding="utf-8") as html_file:
    renderer.render(parsed, html_file)

RTF Specification Links

If you find a working official Microsoft link to the RTF specification and add it here, you'll be remembered fondly.

• Swissmains Link to RTF Spec 1.9.1
• Webarchive Link to RTF Spec 1.9.1
• RTF Extensions, MS-OXRTFEX