HTML

HTML to Text

Details

How to use HTML to Text

What the tool does, how to run it, and what to expect from the result.

How to convert HTML to text

To convert HTML to text, paste your markup into the tool and it extracts readable text in your browser, keeping paragraph breaks and list structure instead of collapsing everything into one run-on block. Review the output, then copy it or download it as a text file.

The extraction runs client-side, so the HTML you paste is never sent to a server. That keeps emails, articles, and CMS content private and lets you pull clean text out of markup instantly, without an account or upload.

  • Paste your HTML markup
  • Let the tool extract readable text
  • Review the preserved paragraph and list structure
  • Copy or download the text

How it differs from simple tag stripping

A basic strip-tags tool just deletes markup, which often leaves text crammed together with no paragraph or list breaks. This HTML to text converter is broader: it aims to keep the content readable enough to reuse, preserving the natural structure that makes the text scannable.

That makes it the right choice when you want usable prose out of an HTML email, a web article, or a CMS export, rather than just a quick markup wipe. If you only need to remove every tag with no structure, a dedicated strip-tags tool is the simpler option.

Tips

Getting a better result out of HTML to Text

Specific settings and thresholds, not general advice.

  • The block list is exact: p, div, section, article, header, footer, aside, blockquote, and h1 through h6 get a blank line after them, and li gets a leading dash. Any tag outside that list contributes no spacing whatsoever.
  • Tables are not in the block list, so <td>A</td><td>B</td> comes out as "AB" and the paragraph after the table runs straight into the last cell. Pull tables out of the input before converting, or expect to repair the output.
  • Ordered lists lose their numbers. Every <li> gets the same "- " prefix whether it sits in a <ul> or an <ol>, so a numbered procedure comes back as an unordered list and the step numbers are gone.
  • Heading level is discarded. An <h1> and an <h4> both become a plain line followed by a blank line, with no # marker and nothing to distinguish them. Use HTML to Markdown when the hierarchy matters.
  • Inline tags add no spacing: Hello<span>World</span> becomes "HelloWorld", because only <br> emits a newline and no inline element emits a space. If your source has no whitespace around inline tags, the words fuse.
Limits

What HTML to Text does not do

The honest boundary, so you do not lose time finding it yourself.

  • Link URLs are dropped. Only the anchor text survives, so <a href="https://example.com">this link</a> becomes "this link".
  • Tables, definition lists, and figure captions get no structure and no separators.
  • The output is plain text, not Markdown: no #, no bullets beyond a literal dash, and no link syntax.
  • The head is never read, so the page <title> is not part of the output.
Reference

Terms used on this page

Short, plain-language definitions for the formats and settings above.

At a glance

Who HTML to Text is for

A quick way to understand who this helps, what it solves, and where it connects next.

Best fit

Content teams, support operators, marketers, and founders extracting text from copied HTML quickly.

Ideal for

Getting cleaner readable text out of HTML when preserving paragraph and list structure still matters.

FAQ

Common questions

Short answers for the questions people usually have before trying a utility like this.

Is this HTML to text converter free?

Yes. This HTML to text converter is free to use with no sign-up and no limit on how much you convert.

Does it upload my HTML to a server?

No. The text is extracted entirely in your browser, so the HTML you paste stays private on your device and is never uploaded.

How is this different from stripping HTML tags?

HTML to Text preserves more practical paragraph and list structure for readable output, while a strip-tags tool simply removes all markup with no structure.

Can I download the result?

Yes. The extracted text stays copyable and can be downloaded as a file.

Does it work on mobile?

Yes. The converter runs in any modern browser, including mobile, so you can extract text from HTML on your phone.

How is this different from Strip HTML Tags in practice?

Strip HTML Tags collapses everything into one line with no separators, so a heading fuses into the paragraph that follows it. This tool inserts a blank line after every block element and a leading dash before every list item, so the result stays readable. Both drop link URLs and both read the body only, so that is not the difference.

What happens to my tables?

They collapse. Table, tr, and td are not in the block list, so no separator is inserted between cells or rows and the cell text concatenates: a two-cell row of A and B becomes AB. Worse, the next block runs into the last cell with no break. Remove tables from the input, convert them separately, or repair the output by hand.

Are numbered lists preserved?

No. Every list item is prefixed with a dash regardless of whether its parent is a <ul> or an <ol>, so the numbering of an ordered list is lost. If step numbers matter, renumber the output or convert to Markdown instead, where ordered lists survive.

Where did my links go?

The text extractor keeps the anchor's text and discards the href, so the words remain and the destinations do not. If you need the URLs, run the same markup through Extract Links From HTML, which lists every anchor with its href, rel, and target.

Can I get Markdown instead of plain text?

Not from this page. The output has no # for headings, no emphasis markers, and no [text](url) links. HTML to Markdown is the tool for that; this one is for readable plain text, for example when you are moving content into a note, an email, or a support reply.

Does anything leave my browser?

No. The HTML is parsed and the text extracted locally, which matters because the HTML people convert here is usually copied from a CMS, an email, or a customer record.

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