How to convert HTML to plain text
- Paste your HTML into HTML. It can be a snippet or the source of a whole page.
- Leave Keep line breaks on to keep paragraphs, headings and list items on their own lines. Turn on Keep link addresses to write each link as text (address).
- Copy or download the plain text.
When you need plain text from HTML
- Writing the plain-text version of an HTML email or newsletter, which many email tools ask for alongside the designed one.
- Copying an article out of a CMS or page source to edit it, count its words or send it for translation.
- Cleaning up text exported from a help desk, forum or survey tool that wraps every answer in tags.
- Checking what a screen reader or search engine sees once the layout is gone.
Your HTML is processed in your browser and never sent anywhere.
What happens to each part
| In the HTML | In the text |
|---|---|
<p>, <h1> to <h6>, <ul>, <table> |
A blank line before and after (with Keep line breaks on) |
<div>, <tr> |
Its own line |
<li> |
Its own line, starting with “- ” or its number in a numbered list |
<td>, <th> |
Separated by a tab |
<img alt="…"> |
The alt text |
<br> |
A line break |
<strong>, <a>, <span> and other tags |
Removed, the text inside stays |
<script> and <style> |
Removed with everything inside them |
<!-- comments --> |
Removed |
& < |
& < and a normal space |
Spaces and line breaks in the HTML source are collapsed the way a browser shows them, so indentation from the source doesn’t end up in your text. Several empty lines in a row are reduced to one.