How do I convert plain text to HTML paragraphs?

Paste text or open a UTF-8 text file. Paragraphs treats one or more blank lines as a paragraph boundary. A single line break inside a paragraph becomes a br tag; choose space to retain a source newline that a browser normally displays as a space. Leading and trailing blank lines are removed. Copy the generated fragment or download the standalone page.

How do I turn newlines into HTML br tags?

Choose Line breaks, or open the line-breaks page. It inserts between lines without wrapping them in p elements. Internal blank lines produce consecutive breaks, while blank lines at the beginning and end are removed. Windows CRLF and old Mac CR line endings become LF. For normal prose use Paragraphs; br tags do not preserve runs of spaces or tabs as a preformatted block would.

Can I convert a text list to an HTML ordered or unordered list?

Choose List for ul or Numbered list for ol. Each nonblank line becomes one li. Leading bullets or numbers such as - Item or 1. Item are removed when there is item text after them, and the removed marker count is shown. The output is a flat list: it does not infer nesting, split commas or create definition lists. A supplied number is replaced by the ordered list’s normal numbering.

Can I convert a TXT or Notepad file into an HTML file?

Choose Open a UTF-8 text file, select the .txt file and review the output. Then use Download HTML to save converted-text.html. The download includes a doctype, UTF-8 declaration, title and body around your generated markup. A Notepad file works when saved as UTF-8. PDF, DOCX, RTF, images and binary files are not imported. Renaming a file’s extension alone is a different operation and does not add paragraph or list markup.

What happens to a less-than sign, an ampersand or a quote in my text?

Five characters are rewritten before the structural tags are added: & becomes &, becomes >, the double quote becomes " and the apostrophe becomes '. A tag you supplied remains literal text. Text that already contains an entity gains another escaping layer intentionally; it is not decoded first. For encoding entities without adding paragraph or list tags, use HTML Entity Converter.

Does it turn web addresses into links?

Switch Auto-link on to build anchors for http, https and mailto addresses, bare www addresses and bare email addresses. Other schemes remain text. Sentence punctuation is kept outside the link and the href is escaped. The generated anchor has no class, style, target or rel attributes. This links addresses found in your text; it does not offer an arbitrary label-and-target link editor.

Can it convert rich text, an HTML email or a table?

This tool accepts plain text and preserves its paragraph, line or flat-list structure. It does not retain formatting from a rich clipboard, Word file, image or visual editor. Paste the HTML body into HTML to Text for the reverse conversion, or use HTML Table Generator for CSV or spreadsheet cells. Generated markup can be pasted into an editor that accepts HTML; the tool does not switch Outlook, Gmail, a CMS or another application to HTML mode, send email or guarantee client styling.

Is there a size limit, and is my text sent anywhere?

There is no fixed input-size limit; the practical limit is this browser’s memory. The conversion and local file reading happen in the browser. Text is not uploaded or saved by this tool. The three settings are remembered on this device, and opening a preset preserves remembered values for keys you have not explicitly selected. Start over forgets them. Invalid UTF-8 files are refused; a lone surrogate in pasted text is reported, and removed control characters are counted.

How do I preview or edit the HTML after conversion?

The output pane prints markup as characters and never executes it. Copy the fragment into your source editor, open the downloaded HTML file in a browser, or use HTML Viewer for a sandboxed preview. The converter does not add CSS, bold or italic tags, text fields, images, animation or a WYSIWYG editor.

Text to HTML

Paste plain text or open a local UTF-8 .txt file to generate HTML. Paragraphs uses blank lines for separate p elements; Line breaks puts br tags between lines; List and Numbered list turn nonblank lines into li elements inside ul or ol. Text is escaped before markup is added, so a script tag you supply stays literal text. Auto-linking optionally turns web or email addresses into anchors. Copy gives the fragment shown in the pane; Download HTML saves a standalone UTF-8 page containing that fragment. This converts plain content and line structure, without recreating fonts, images, tables or a rich-text document layout.

Open a UTF-8 text file

text2 paragraphs

htmlescaped

<p>Read the &lt;script&gt; note first.</p>

<p>Then open https://example.com<br>
and tell me what you see.</p>

Mode
Paragraphs: 2
Links: off
Line breaks

A blank line starts a new p element, and a single line break inside it becomes a br tag. Auto-linking is off, so a web address stays as the text you typed.

Angle brackets in the texta tag typed as text
Read the <script> note first.
A blank linetwo blocks
One paragraph. And a second one.
A javascript: URLauto-link on
Open javascript:alert(1) or <a href="https://example.com">https://example.com</a>

The html pane is a preview of the markup, printed as characters: this page never renders what you paste, so a tag in your text cannot do anything here. The only tags this tool writes are , , <ul>, <ol>, <li> and <a href="...">, with no class, no style and no other attribute, so the markup takes the styling of the page you paste it into. Everything else that arrives is your text, escaped. Copy takes the fragment shown in the pane; Download HTML wraps it in a standalone page with a UTF-8 declaration. Local files must be UTF-8 plain text; Word, PDF and rich-text document layouts are not imported. There is no fixed input-size limit; the practical limit is this browser’s memory.

Accuracy. Every character is escaped before any markup is added, so nothing you paste can become a tag or an attribute. Auto-linking is off until you switch it on and then only ever builds http, https and mailto links. The conversion and the preview both run in your browser.

Common questions

How do I convert plain text to HTML paragraphs?: Paste text or open a UTF-8 text file. Paragraphs treats one or more blank lines as a paragraph boundary. A single line break inside a paragraph becomes a br tag; choose space to retain a source newline that a browser normally displays as a space. Leading and trailing blank lines are removed. Copy the generated fragment or download the standalone page.
How do I turn newlines into HTML br tags?: Choose Line breaks, or open the line-breaks page. It inserts between lines without wrapping them in p elements. Internal blank lines produce consecutive breaks, while blank lines at the beginning and end are removed. Windows CRLF and old Mac CR line endings become LF. For normal prose use Paragraphs; br tags do not preserve runs of spaces or tabs as a preformatted block would.
Can I convert a text list to an HTML ordered or unordered list?: Choose List for ul or Numbered list for ol. Each nonblank line becomes one li. Leading bullets or numbers such as - Item or 1. Item are removed when there is item text after them, and the removed marker count is shown. The output is a flat list: it does not infer nesting, split commas or create definition lists. A supplied number is replaced by the ordered list’s normal numbering.
Can I convert a TXT or Notepad file into an HTML file?: Choose Open a UTF-8 text file, select the .txt file and review the output. Then use Download HTML to save converted-text.html. The download includes a doctype, UTF-8 declaration, title and body around your generated markup. A Notepad file works when saved as UTF-8. PDF, DOCX, RTF, images and binary files are not imported. Renaming a file’s extension alone is a different operation and does not add paragraph or list markup.
What happens to a less-than sign, an ampersand or a quote in my text?: Five characters are rewritten before the structural tags are added: & becomes &, < becomes <, > becomes >, the double quote becomes " and the apostrophe becomes '. A tag you supplied remains literal text. Text that already contains an entity gains another escaping layer intentionally; it is not decoded first. For encoding entities without adding paragraph or list tags, use HTML Entity Converter.
Does it turn web addresses into links?: Switch Auto-link on to build anchors for http, https and mailto addresses, bare www addresses and bare email addresses. Other schemes remain text. Sentence punctuation is kept outside the link and the href is escaped. The generated anchor has no class, style, target or rel attributes. This links addresses found in your text; it does not offer an arbitrary label-and-target link editor.
Can it convert rich text, an HTML email or a table?: This tool accepts plain text and preserves its paragraph, line or flat-list structure. It does not retain formatting from a rich clipboard, Word file, image or visual editor. Paste the HTML body into HTML to Text for the reverse conversion, or use HTML Table Generator for CSV or spreadsheet cells. Generated markup can be pasted into an editor that accepts HTML; the tool does not switch Outlook, Gmail, a CMS or another application to HTML mode, send email or guarantee client styling.
Is there a size limit, and is my text sent anywhere?: There is no fixed input-size limit; the practical limit is this browser’s memory. The conversion and local file reading happen in the browser. Text is not uploaded or saved by this tool. The three settings are remembered on this device, and opening a preset preserves remembered values for keys you have not explicitly selected. Start over forgets them. Invalid UTF-8 files are refused; a lone surrogate in pasted text is reported, and removed control characters are counted.
How do I preview or edit the HTML after conversion?: The output pane prints markup as characters and never executes it. Copy the fragment into your source editor, open the downloaded HTML file in a browser, or use HTML Viewer for a sandboxed preview. The converter does not add CSS, bold or italic tags, text fields, images, animation or a WYSIWYG editor.

Every character is escaped before any markup is added, so nothing you paste can become a tag or an attribute. Auto-linking is off until you switch it on and then only ever builds http, https and mailto links. The conversion and the preview both run in your browser.