Markdown to Text Converter

About this tool

Markdown syntax — asterisks for bold, hashes for headings, brackets for links, backticks for code — is invisible when rendered but cluttered when pasted into a plain-text context such as an email, a plain-text field, a slide, or a system that does not render Markdown. Strip Markdown converts Markdown to readable plain text as you type. It removes heading hashes, bold, italic and strikethrough markers, inline code backticks and code fences (keeping the code), blockquote markers, horizontal rules, link reference definitions and table separator rows. Links keep their display text, with an option to keep the URL in parentheses, and images keep their alt text. Bullet and task-list items become '• ' bullets, ordered list items all show as '1. ', and table rows become cells joined by ' | '. Raw HTML is left in place. Underscores and asterisks are treated as emphasis anywhere, so snake_case words lose their underscores. Copy the result with one click; everything runs in your browser.

Why use it

• Common Markdown Syntax Removed: Headings, bold, italic, strikethrough, links, images, code fences, blockquotes and horizontal rules are stripped.

• Links Your Way: Keep only the display text, or tick one option to keep each URL in parentheses after its text.

• Image Alt Text Kept:  becomes its alt text so the description is not lost.

• Code Content Preserved: Fence lines and backticks are removed while the code inside stays in the output.

• Instant Real-Time Stripping: Output updates as you type — no button click needed, and no page reload.

• Email & Presentation Ready: Ideal for pasting Markdown content into email clients, slide editors, or any system that does not render Markdown.

How to use

1. Paste your Markdown-formatted text into the Markdown input box.
2. The plain text output updates instantly as you type.
3. Tick 'Keep link URLs in parentheses' if you want links shown as 'text (url)'.
4. Review the output — bullets show as '•' and table rows as cells separated by ' | '.
5. Click the copy button on the output to copy the plain text.
6. Click Clear to empty the input and reset the option.

When it helps

• When copying content from a Markdown README to paste into an email without the raw syntax showing.
• When extracting plain text from Markdown documentation for import into a translation tool.
• When pasting Markdown-formatted notes into a plain-text field in a CRM or ticket system.
• When preparing Markdown blog content for indexing by an NLP or search system that expects plain text.
• When cleaning up Markdown exported from a note-taking app like Obsidian or Notion before sharing.
• When converting Markdown to plain text for accessibility tools like screen readers that do not render formatting.

Examples

# My Title

**Important:** This is *emphasized* text.

My Title

Important: This is emphasized text.

Visit [UtilityKit](https://utilitykit.tools) for free tools.

Steps:
- First step
- Second step

Run `npm install`.

Steps:
• First step
• Second step

Run npm install.

Tips

• After stripping, run the output through Word Counter to verify sentence and paragraph structure looks correct before pasting into a new context.
• If your Markdown contains HTML blocks, run Strip HTML after Strip Markdown to ensure all markup is removed.
• For translation workflows, strip Markdown first so the translation tool receives clean sentences without being confused by syntax brackets.
• Write meaningful alt text in your Markdown images — it is what remains in the plain-text output.
• When copying from Obsidian or Notion markdown exports, the output may have frontmatter YAML — check the start of the stripped output and delete any YAML key-value pairs manually.

Frequently Asked Questions

Glossary

Markdown

A lightweight markup language created by John Gruber that uses plain-text formatting syntax to produce HTML. Widely used for documentation, README files, and blogging.

CommonMark

A standardized Markdown specification that resolves ambiguities in the original Gruber spec. The most widely implemented Markdown dialect.

Fenced code block

A multi-line code block in Markdown delimited by triple backticks (```) or tildes (~~~), with an optional language identifier on the opening fence.

Front matter

YAML or TOML metadata at the start of a Markdown file, delimited by --- lines. Used by static site generators to set page metadata.

Emphasis

Markdown syntax for italic text using single asterisks or underscores: *italic* or _italic_.

Strong emphasis

Markdown syntax for bold text using double asterisks or underscores: **bold** or __bold__.