Clean Whitespace
Paste messy text and get a clean version instantly. Pick a preset or customize the options below.
Changes Applied
Cleaning Options
Toggle individual cleaning rules. Changes apply instantly to your text.
Why Text Gets Messy
Whitespace issues are frustrating but common. Understanding where they come from helps you fix them efficiently.
Text Copied from PDFs
PDFs don't store text as continuous sentences — they position each character at exact coordinates. When you copy text, the reader guesses where words begin and end, causing extra spaces, mid-sentence line breaks, and hyphenation artifacts.
OCR-Scanned Documents
OCR software converts images to text, but makes spacing mistakes with narrow fonts, degraded documents, and multi-column layouts.
Web Copy-Paste
Copying from websites brings hidden formatting: non-breaking spaces, zero-width characters, or multiple spaces for visual alignment.
Email and Chat Formatting
Email clients often reformat text, adding extra line breaks at column boundaries (72 or 80 characters). Plain text emails are particularly prone to this.
Whitespace Character Reference
| Character | Code | Description | Common Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Space | U+0020 | Regular space character | Standard typing |
| Tab | U+0009 | Horizontal tab (4-8 spaces width) | Code editors, spreadsheets |
| Line Feed | U+000A | New line (Unix/Mac/Web) | Most modern systems |
| Carriage Return | U+000D | Line ending (Windows uses CR+LF) | Windows text files |
| Non-Breaking Space | U+00A0 | Space that prevents line wrap | Word processors, HTML |
| Zero-Width Space | U+200B | Invisible, allows line break | Web content, Unicode text |
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I remove extra spaces from text?
Why does text copied from PDF have extra spaces?
What is the difference between a space and a tab?
Can I merge multiple lines into one paragraph?
Is my text stored or sent to a server?
Does this work on mobile devices?
Privacy & Limitations
- All calculations run entirely in your browser -- nothing is sent to any server.
- Results are estimates and may vary based on actual conditions.
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Whitespace Cleaner FAQ
How do I remove extra spaces from text?
Paste your text into the whitespace cleaner, ensure "Collapse multiple spaces" is checked, and the tool will automatically convert multiple consecutive spaces into single spaces. Click Copy to get your cleaned text.
Why does text copied from PDF have extra spaces?
PDFs store text as positioned elements, not continuous text. When you copy from a PDF, the reader tries to reconstruct the text flow, often adding extra spaces where columns meet, around hyphenated words, or where text wraps. OCR-scanned PDFs have even more spacing issues due to character recognition errors.
What is the difference between a space and a tab character?
A space is a single-width character (ASCII 32), while a tab is a special character (ASCII 9) that advances to the next tab stop, typically 4 or 8 spaces. Tabs are invisible but can cause formatting issues when copied between applications. This tool can convert tabs to regular spaces.
How do I remove all blank lines from text?
Use the "Remove all blank lines" option to delete every empty line, keeping only lines with content. For less aggressive cleanup, use "Collapse blank lines" which reduces multiple consecutive blank lines to just one.
Can I convert multiple lines into a single paragraph?
Yes. Enable "Single paragraph mode" to join all lines into one continuous paragraph. This is useful for text copied from PDFs or emails where line breaks appear mid-sentence.
Is my text stored or sent to a server?
No. All processing happens entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Your text never leaves your device and is not stored, logged, or transmitted anywhere.