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Remove Text Formatting

Paste text copied from Word, Google Docs, a web page or an email into the left box. The right box instantly shows clean plain text with all fonts, sizes, colors, highlights and links removed, while keeping paragraphs, line breaks and bullet lists the way you choose.

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1. Paste formatted text
Options

Everything happens in your browser: pasted text is never uploaded. Tables become tab-separated rows, so they paste neatly into spreadsheets.

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How to use the Remove Text Formatting

  1. Copy text from Word, Google Docs, a website or an email.
  2. Paste it into the left box with Ctrl+V (Cmd+V on Mac), or press Paste from clipboard.
  3. Choose options: how to handle line breaks and lists, and whether to keep link URLs or convert smart quotes.
  4. Copy the clean text from the right box with Copy clean text, or download it as a .txt file. You can also edit it right there.

What gets removed and what is kept

In the pasted textIn the clean text
Fonts, font sizes, colors, highlightsRemoved
Bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, superscriptRemoved (the words stay)
Headings and paragraphsSeparate paragraphs, or lines, depending on the Line breaks option
Bullet and numbered lists• item / 1. item, with nested lists indented, or removed
LinksLink text kept; URL added in brackets only if you turn that on
TablesOne line per row, cells separated by tabs
Images, embedded objects, hidden Word contentRemoved
Non-breaking spaces, zero-width spaces, soft hyphensNormalized or removed
Smart quotes “ ” ‘ ’, en and em dashes, ellipsis …Kept, or converted to " ' - ... with the plain ASCII option

Why formatted text causes problems

When you copy from Word, Google Docs or a web page, the clipboard carries an HTML version of the text with every style attached. Pasting that into an email, a website editor, a CMS or a form often brings along mismatched fonts, odd spacing, colored backgrounds and invisible characters. Cleaning the text first means it takes on the style of wherever you paste it. Plain text is also what you want for code editors, spreadsheets, SMS messages, social media posts and AI chat prompts.

Choosing a line break mode

Keep paragraphs puts one blank line between paragraphs, which suits emails, documents and most editors. Keep line breaks, no blank lines gives one line per paragraph, list item or table row, handy for lists and spreadsheets. Remove all line breaks joins everything into a single paragraph, useful for form fields, meta descriptions and text that was broken into short lines by a PDF.

Frequently asked questions

How do I remove formatting from text?

Paste the formatted text into the left box. The tool reads the pasted content, ignores every font, color, size and style, and writes only the words, line breaks and list markers into the right box, ready to copy.

Is there a keyboard shortcut to paste without formatting?

Many apps support Ctrl+Shift+V (Cmd+Shift+Option+V in some Mac apps) to paste as plain text. It does not exist everywhere and it often loses list bullets and keeps hidden characters, which is why a dedicated cleaner is useful.

Will my bullet points and numbered lists survive?

Yes, by default. Bullets become • (or - or *, your choice) and numbered lists keep their numbers, including lists pasted from Word. Choose Remove bullets and numbers to drop them.

What happens to tables?

Each table row becomes one line and the cells are separated by tab characters. Pasted into Excel or Google Sheets, the data lands back in separate cells.

What are hidden characters and why remove them?

Text from the web and word processors often contains non-breaking spaces, zero-width spaces and soft hyphens. They are invisible but can break searches, word counts, code and form fields. The cleaner turns non-breaking spaces into normal spaces and deletes the rest.

Is my text private?

Yes. All processing runs in your browser with JavaScript. The text is never sent to a server, and nothing is stored after you close the page.

Are all the tools on FreeToolCabin tested for quality and accuracy?

Yes! Every tool on our site undergoes automated Q/A testing in real browser environments to ensure high precision, correct output, and zero errors. If you happen to spot a bug or have a suggestion, please contact us at [email protected] and our team will review it right away.

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