Markdown to Plain Text
ConvertersStrip Markdown syntax to produce plain readable text. Removes headers, bold, italic, links, code, and other formatting markers.. Free, private — all processing in your browser.
Markdown Preview
This is a live preview of your Markdown content.
Features
- Real-time rendering
- GitHub Flavored Markdown
- Tables, task lists, strikethrough
Code Block
function greet(name) {
return `Hello, ${name}!`;
}
Table
| Feature | Status |
|---|---|
| Bold | ✅ |
| Italic | ✅ |
| Links | ✅ |
| Images | ✅ |
| Tables | ✅ |
| Code | ✅ |
Task List
- Write Markdown
- Preview in real-time
- Copy HTML output
This is a blockquote with bold and italic text.
Learn more in our Markdown Syntax Guide.
The Markdown to Text tool strips Markdown syntax and produces clean plain text. Useful when you need readable content from Markdown source without the formatting markers (asterisks, hashes, underscores, brackets), such as for word count analysis, text-to-speech input, email plain-text fallbacks, or anywhere you need the content without visual formatting codes.
Paste Markdown and get plain text. Preserves paragraph breaks and list item text but removes all Markdown syntax. Headers become plain text, bold/italic loses markers, code blocks become plain, links keep text but lose URLs by default.
Markdown to Plain Text — key features
Strip all Markdown
Removes headers, bold, italic, code, blockquotes, lists.
Preserve structure
Paragraph breaks kept; only formatting removed.
Configurable
Options for keeping link URLs, image alt text, etc.
Full format support
Headers H1-H6, bold, italic, bold-italic, strikethrough, code, blockquotes, lists, tables.
Preview
See plain output before copying.
Copy clean text
One-click copy.
Batch
Process multiple Markdown blocks.
Client-side only
All processing in your browser.
How to use the Markdown to Plain Text
- 1
Paste Markdown
Drop Markdown source.
- 2
Choose options
Keep link URLs, handle images, etc.
- 3
Strip
Markdown syntax removed, plain text produced.
- 4
Preview
See before committing.
- 5
Copy
Clean text for use elsewhere.
Common use cases for the Markdown to Plain Text
Content processing
- →Word count: Accurate count of visible text, not including Markdown syntax.
- →Plain text export: Export blog posts to plain text for email or document.
- →Text analysis: Feed to keyword analyzers, readability checkers.
Accessibility
- →Text-to-speech: Produce readable input for screen readers or TTS services.
- →Simplified reading: Remove formatting distractions for focused reading.
- →Screen reader testing: See what a screen reader encounters.
Email and documents
- →Email plain-text: Plain-text alternative for HTML emails.
- →Word document prep: Clean text to paste into Word without formatting.
- →PDF text: Clean text for PDF body.
Markdown to Plain Text — examples
Headers
Strip # markers.
# Main Title\n## Subtitle\nContent here.
Main Title\nSubtitle\nContent here.
Bold and italic
Clean formatting.
This is **bold** and *italic*.
This is bold and italic.
Links
Text only.
Visit [our site](https://example.com) for more.
Visit our site for more.
Lists
Bullets stripped.
- First item\n- Second item
First item\nSecond item
Code blocks
Code content preserved.
```python\nprint(\"hello\")\n```
print(\"hello\")
Technical details
Markdown-to-plaintext strips:
Headers: # Header → Header (the # and any leading spaces removed)
Bold: bold → bold
Italic: *italic* or _italic_ → italic
Bold italic: *both* → both
Strikethrough: ~~deleted~~ → deleted (some implementations preserve as deleted)
Code inline: code → code
Code block: ``language\\ncode`` → code (just the inner content)
Blockquotes: > quoted → quoted (the > removed)
Horizontal rule: --- → (removed entirely, or replaced with blank line)
Links: [text](url) → text (URL dropped; option to keep as \\\"text (url)\\\")
Images:  → alt (or removed)
Lists: - item → item (bullet or number removed)
Tables: | col1 | col2 | → col1 col2 (pipes removed, columns space-separated)
HTML tags embedded: preserved as HTML or stripped based on option
Structure preservation:
- Paragraph breaks (blank line) preserved
- Single newlines within paragraphs preserved
- List structure flattened but items stay on separate lines
Options for edge cases:
- Preserve link URLs: [text](url) → text (url)
- Include image placeholders: ![alt] → [Image: alt]
- Keep HTML: preserve HTML tags vs strip to text
- Numbered list: keep numbers or strip
Implementation: parse Markdown using standard parser (marked, remark), walk the AST, extract text, rejoin with appropriate spacing.
Use cases for plain text output:
- Word count (Markdown formatting adds characters that aren\u2019t visible)
- Text-to-speech input (reader doesn\u2019t need markers)
- Email plain-text alternative alongside HTML
- Database storage where only text needed
- SEO keyword analysis on actual visible content
- Accessibility testing (what screen readers see)
Different from Markdown renderer: renderer converts to HTML/formatted output. This tool produces plain text (no formatting, no HTML).
Common problems and solutions
⚠Links lose destination
By default, [text](url) becomes just text. Enable \"preserve URLs\" to keep them alongside.
⚠Images lose context
 becomes alt text. If image was important context, readability may suffer. Note image locations in output.
⚠Table flattening
Tables become space-separated text, losing column alignment. For tabular data, consider exporting to CSV instead.
⚠Code formatting lost
Code blocks become plain text, losing language-specific highlighting. Useful when text matters, not formatting.
⚠List structure flat
Nested lists flatten. Indentation from nested items lost in pure plain text.
⚠HTML preserved or stripped
Markdown may contain HTML (rare). Option to keep or strip. If stripping, output ignores HTML entirely.
⚠Whitespace preservation
Markdown allows single newlines within paragraphs. Plain text preserves; some uses want collapsed whitespace.
Markdown to Plain Text — comparisons and alternatives
Compared to rendering Markdown to HTML then to text, this tool direct-converts. More efficient for pure text output.
Compared to find-and-replace in editor, this tool handles all Markdown syntax systematically. Manual replace misses edge cases.
Compared to Markdown renderers, this tool produces plain text (not HTML). Different output for different needs.
Frequently asked questions about the Markdown to Plain Text
▶What’s the difference from Markdown to HTML?
Markdown to HTML renders formatting for display. Markdown to Text strips all formatting for plain output. Two different outputs; choose based on need.
▶Do link URLs survive?
By default, only link text kept. Enable option to preserve: \"text (URL)\" format. Useful for email plain-text versions that still reference links.
▶What about images?
Alt text kept by default (as text), URL dropped. Optionally include placeholder like \"[Image: alt text]\" for clarity.
▶Is paragraph structure preserved?
Yes. Blank lines between paragraphs stay. Within-paragraph newlines also kept. Only formatting characters removed.
▶Does it keep bold and italic as plain?
No, formatting is stripped. bold becomes just \"bold\". Styling removed; only text remains.
▶Is my data private?
Yes. All processing in your browser.
▶Can I keep some formatting?
Not this tool. Full stripping. For selective formatting, pre-process Markdown manually or use a different conversion tool.
▶What about HTML in Markdown?
If Markdown includes HTML, option to preserve or strip. Default: strip to plain text.
Additional resources
- Markdown spec — CommonMark specification for Markdown.
- marked library — JavaScript Markdown parser.
- remark — Markdown processor with plugin support.
- Plain text email — Email best practices including plain-text alternatives.
- Markdown cheat sheet — Markdown syntax reference.
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