Format Remover
Strip bold, italics, links, tables, and hidden styles to get clean, plain text.
What it does
The Format Remover takes HTML, Markdown, or rich text and converts it into pure plain text. All formatting — including headings, lists, links, emphasis markers, and HTML entities — is stripped so you can paste clean copy into databases, forms, or CMS fields that don't support formatting. Stripping formatting first is also good practice before measuring text — see Readability Formulas Explained for why leftover Markdown syntax can throw off a word or readability count.
How to use
- Open Format Remover from the Text & Writing panel.
- Paste your formatted text (HTML, Markdown, or rich text) into the left editor.
- Click Strip All Formatting.
- Copy or download the cleaned output from the right panel.
What gets removed
| Source format | Removed elements |
| :------------- | :----------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| HTML | All tags, plus a common set of entities (&, , —, etc.) |
| Markdown | Headers (#), bold/italic/strikethrough/code markers, list markers, [text](url) links |
Note: Markdown table syntax isn't specially handled. Pipes (|) and header-separator rows (---|---) are left as-is in the output — this tool doesn't reconstruct a table into clean cell text.
Pasting rich text (e.g. from Word or Google Docs) into a plain <textarea> already loses most visual styling as a normal browser behavior — that's not something this tool does specially, just how plain-text inputs work. Any Markdown-looking characters left over after that paste (like a stray ** or #) are what this tool's stripping actually targets.
Common use cases
- Flatten styled blog drafts before importing into a plain-text CMS.
- Remove HTML tags from web-scraped datasets.
- Convert a formatted doc into a clean text version for text-only email recipients.
- Generate a plain-text alternative for documents shared with screen-reader users.
FAQ
Does it handle nested HTML?
Yes. All HTML tags, including nested elements, are fully removed. HTML entities like &, “, and are decoded into their plain-text equivalents.
Will it remove Markdown tables?
Not cleanly — table pipes (|) and header-separator dashes (---) are not specially handled and will remain in the output. List markers, headers, and inline emphasis markers are stripped, but table structure is not reconstructed into plain cell text.
Can I customize which formatting to keep?
No — this tool strips everything in one pass. There's no option to selectively preserve elements like line breaks or list numbering.
Privacy
All format stripping runs entirely in your browser. No text is sent to a server.