Remove formatting from text
Paste text from Word, Google Docs, a web page or an email and get clean plain text instantly. Fonts, colours, links and hidden characters are stripped, and link tracking goes too. Nothing leaves your browser.
- Instant
- No signup
- Nothing uploaded
How to remove formatting from text
- Copy the formatted text with
⌘C(or Ctrl-C). - Click the left box and paste with
⌘V. Fonts, colours, bold and links still show there. - The right box shows the same text as plain text, instantly. Pick any cleaning options you want.
- Click Copy plain text and paste it wherever you need it.
What the plain text tool removes
| Formatting | What happens |
|---|---|
| Fonts, sizes and colours | Gone. The text takes on the style of wherever you paste it. |
| Bold, italics, highlights | Removed, along with headings and table styling. |
| Hyperlinks | The link text stays; the hidden link goes. Links typed out in full stay as text. |
| Link tracking | utm_source, fbclid, gclid, si and 20 more trackers stripped from links, the same list Maclip uses. |
| Hidden characters | Non-breaking spaces, zero-width spaces and soft hyphens that break search and code. |
| Curly quotes and dashes | Optional: curly quotes to straight ones, long dashes to -, ellipses to ..., for code and terminals. |
| Broken lines | Optional: joins lines split mid-sentence when copying from a PDF or email. |
Paste without formatting on a Mac
You don't always need this page. Most Mac apps can paste as plain text with a shortcut, though it changes from app to app. The full list is in our guide to pasting without formatting on a Mac.
| App | Paste as plain text |
|---|---|
| Pages, Mail, Notes, TextEdit, Safari | ⌥⇧⌘V (Paste and Match Style) |
| Google Docs, Gmail, Chrome | ⇧⌘V |
| Slack, Notion | ⇧⌘V |
| Microsoft Word | ⌥⇧⌘V, or Paste Special → Unformatted Text |
| Any app, with Maclip | ⌘⇧V, then ⇧↵ on any clip, or an app rule that always pastes plain text |
Questions
How do I remove formatting from text?
Paste it into the left box on this page and copy the result from the right box. Fonts, colours, sizes, bold, links and tables are removed and only the words are kept. On a Mac you can also paste without formatting directly with ⌥⇧⌘V.
Is this plain text converter free? Do I need an account?
It's free, with no signup, no limits and no ads. It runs entirely in your browser: the text you paste is never uploaded, stored or sent anywhere.
What is the shortcut to paste without formatting on a Mac?
Option-Shift-Command-V (⌥⇧⌘V) in most Mac apps, and Shift-Command-V (⇧⌘V) in Google Docs, Gmail, Slack and Notion. Our guide to pasting without formatting on a Mac covers every app.
Why does pasted text keep the wrong font?
Copying puts both rich text (with fonts and colours) and plain text on the clipboard, and ⌘V pastes the rich version. Pasting as plain text, or cleaning it here first, keeps only the words so they match the document you paste into.
Can I make plain text my default paste on a Mac?
macOS has no setting for it. Maclip lets you set an app rule so every paste into Slack, Terminal or any app you choose is plain text, and ⇧↵ in its ⌘⇧V panel pastes any clip as plain text on demand.
Does it work with text from PDFs?
Yes. Turn on Join broken lines to rejoin sentences a PDF split across lines; blank lines between paragraphs are kept.
Keep reading
- GuideHow to paste without formatting on a MacPress ⌥⇧⌘V (Option-Shift-Command-V) to paste as plain text on a Mac. How to paste text only in Pages, Word, Google Docs, Slack, Notion and Gmail, and how to make plain text your default paste.
- GuideEvery copy and paste shortcut on the MacEvery copy, cut and paste shortcut on the Mac, including pasting without formatting, moving files in Finder and copying a screenshot straight to the clipboard.
- Getting startedApp rules: set how Maclip works in each appPer app: paste as plain text or Markdown, file copies on a board, tag or pin them, skip images, save nothing, keep clips private, erase them after a while, or turn snippets off.
- GuideHow to see your clipboard history on a MacWhere your Mac keeps what you copy, how to open the clipboard history built into macOS Tahoe's Spotlight, and what to use when you need more than the last few items.