How to use it
- Paste the messy text.
- Pick the cleanups you want (the common ones are on by default).
- Check how many characters were removed.
- Copy or download the clean text.
What each option does
| Option | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Collapse multiple spaces into one | on | word␣␣␣word → word␣word |
| Trim spaces at line start and end | on | Removes leading and trailing spaces on every line |
| Convert tabs to spaces | on | Each tab becomes one space |
| Convert non-breaking and special spaces | on | Non-breaking, thin, em and other Unicode spaces become normal spaces |
| Remove invisible characters | on | Deletes zero-width spaces, joiners, byte order marks and soft hyphens |
| Remove all spaces | off | Deletes every space and tab (line breaks stay) |
| Remove punctuation and symbols | off | Deletes . , ; ! ? quotes, brackets, $, %, emoji and similar |
| Remove digits | off | Deletes every number character |
Line breaks are always preserved, so lists stay lists. The note under the result shows how many characters shorter the text became.
Where messy whitespace comes from
- Copying from PDFs and web pages, which often brings double spaces, tabs from table layouts and non-breaking spaces.
- Word processors, where people used spaces to line things up.
- Spreadsheets and databases, with leading or trailing spaces in cells that break lookups and matching.
- Chat apps and AI tools, which sometimes insert invisible characters.
- Typing habits, like two spaces after a period.
Invisible problems are the nastiest: a trailing space or a zero-width character makes apple and apple look identical but fail to match in a VLOOKUP, a login form or a search. A pass through this tool fixes that.
Spaces after periods
Some people were taught to type two spaces after a period. Most modern style guides, including AP and Chicago, call for a single space, and on the web extra spaces are usually collapsed anyway when a page is displayed. With Collapse multiple spaces into one on, the tool converts double spaces after sentences to single spaces along with every other run of spaces.
Stronger cleanups
The off-by-default options are for special jobs:
- Remove all spaces turns AB 12 CD into AB12CD, handy for codes, IBANs, card or phone numbers copied with spaces.
- Remove punctuation and symbols leaves only letters, digits and spaces, useful before counting words in a special way, or preparing text for simple matching.
- Remove digits strips numbers out of names or labels.
Combine them as needed, and check the result before you replace the original. For targeted edits, such as removing only dollar signs or only a certain word, find and replace gives you more control.
Related tools
- Remove empty lines – delete blank lines or collapse them into paragraph breaks.
- Remove line breaks – join lines broken in the middle of sentences.
- Invisible character – see exactly which hidden characters are in a text and where.
- Remove duplicate lines – often the next step after cleaning a list.
Cleaning runs in your browser and nothing is uploaded.
Frequently asked questions
How do I remove double spaces from text?
Paste the text. “Collapse multiple spaces into one” is on by default, so double and triple spaces become single spaces immediately.
How do I remove all spaces?
Turn on “Remove all spaces”. Every space and tab is deleted; line breaks are kept.
What is a non-breaking space?
A space character (U+00A0) that prevents a line break. It looks like a normal space but doesn't match one in searches, so the tool converts it.
Will it remove line breaks?
No. Line breaks are kept. Use the remove line breaks tool to join lines.
Is the text uploaded?
No. The cleanup runs in your browser.
Last updated: November 12, 2026