如何将Google Docs Python API提取的文本保存为TXT文件？

I’ve run into this exact issue before—your problem comes down to Python defaulting to ASCII encoding when writing files, but the text returned by read_strucutural_elements() is a Unicode string containing characters outside the ASCII range (like the ú in your error message). Here are a few straightforward fixes:

Method 1: Specify UTF-8 Encoding When Opening the File #

This is the cleanest and most recommended approach, especially if you’re using Python 3. Just explicitly set the encoding parameter when opening your output file:

with open('extracted_text.txt', 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
    f.write(read_strucutural_elements(doc_content))

UTF-8 supports all Unicode characters, so this will handle special characters without any issues.

Method 2: Encode the Unicode String (For Python 2 Users) #

Since you mentioned the return type is unicode (a dead giveaway for Python 2), you can encode the string to UTF-8 bytes before writing:

with open('extracted_text.txt', 'w') as f:
    f.write(read_strucutural_elements(doc_content).encode('utf-8'))

Python 2’s built-in open() uses ASCII by default, so converting the Unicode string to a UTF-8 byte stream bypasses the encoding error.

Method 3: Set Default Encoding (Not Recommended) #

You can force Python to use UTF-8 as the default encoding, but this can cause unexpected side effects in other parts of your code, so use this only as a last resort:

import sys
reload(sys)
sys.setdefaultencoding('utf-8')

After setting this, your original f.write() call should work without modification.

Quick Note #

When you open the saved .txt file, make sure your text editor uses UTF-8 encoding to view it (most modern editors like VS Code, Notepad++, or even macOS TextEdit do this automatically). Otherwise, you might see garbled characters, but the file itself will be saved correctly.

内容的提问来源于stack exchange，提问作者user1667306