How to use the markdown to plain text stripper
- Paste your Markdown in the box.
- Choose what happens to list markers, link addresses, code blocks and images.
- Read the word counts before and after, to check that no words were lost.
- Copy the plain text or download it as a .txt file.
Formula
# Heading becomes Heading, **bold** and *italic* become bold and italic
[text](address) becomes text, or text (address) if you keep addresses
 becomes alt, or nothing if you remove images
`code` becomes code, and fenced blocks are kept or removed
Characters escaped with a backslash, such as \*, are kept without the backslash, and words with underscores, such as snake_case_name, are left alone.
A short weekly update
The input has a heading, a bold word, a link, three list items and a quote. With the default choices the result is Weekly update, then the sentence The launch went well, and the report is ready., then the list lines - Fixed the login bug, - Moved the export button and - [x] Updated the help page, and finally Next week: plan the release.
Choosing Text and address for links changes the sentence to the report (https://example.com/report) is ready, and Use bullet dots turns the dashes into bullet characters. The word counts in and out match apart from the address, which adds one word.
What the tool removes
It strips heading marks, bold, italic and strikethrough marks, inline code ticks, quote arrows, horizontal rules, link and image syntax, reference link definitions and HTML tags, and it turns table rows into cells separated by tabs. Ordered list numbers are kept unless you choose No markers. Blank lines are reduced so that no more than one empty line is left between paragraphs.
Words are never removed except for the text of things you chose to drop, such as a code block or an image with no description. The check on the word counts helps you see that.
When to use something else
This cleans notes and short documents and is not a complete Markdown parser. Unusual nesting, raw HTML blocks or extensions may leave a stray symbol, so read the result before you send it. For HTML pages, use the HTML to Text Converter. To see how Markdown is displayed first, use the Markdown Editor and Previewer. The Word Counter gives a fuller count of the cleaned text, and the Smart Quote Converter turns straight quotes into curly ones.
Assumptions and limits
- The text is read line by line, in the common Markdown style.
- A task list item keeps its [ ] or [x] box so that the state is not lost.
- Reference-style links are replaced by their text. Their addresses are not looked up.
- Nothing is uploaded, and the text stays on your device.
Frequently asked questions
Why are underscores in my words still there?
An underscore inside a word, as in snake_case_name, is not emphasis in Markdown, so it is kept. Emphasis needs the underscore at the edge of a word.
Can I keep the links?
Yes. Choose Text and address and each link becomes its text followed by the address in brackets.
What happens to code blocks?
You can keep their lines as plain text or remove them. The fence lines with the backticks are always removed.
Does it handle tables?
Yes, in a simple way. The divider row is removed and the cells of each row are joined with tabs.