Em Dash Remover
Clean em dashes (—) and en dashes (–) from drafts. Choose a hyphen, comma, space, or delete them entirely.
Keyboard: Ctrl or ⌘ + Enter copies. Escape clears. Text stays in this browser.
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Em dashes, en dashes, and what gets replaced
The converter looks for em dashes (—) and en dashes (–)—common in generated drafts and some word processors—and swaps them for a hyphen, comma, space, or nothing, depending on the control on the page. Regular ASCII hyphens (-) are left alone unless you also run Find and Replace.
House style without a full rewrite
Some teams ban em dashes in support macros or SEO drafts. Others want commas for parenthetical asides. Pick the replacement that matches your style guide, then skim sentences that become run-ons after a dash is deleted.
Lookalike Unicode dashes
Figure dashes, minus signs, and horizontal bars are different characters. If a dash survives, paste it into Character Remover or Find and Replace. Conversion stays local; large pastes may be truncated.
Frequently asked questions
Will this remove hyphenated words like “well-known”?
No. ASCII hyphens inside compounds are not em or en dashes. Only — and – are targeted.
Which replacement should I choose?
Hyphen is the safest generic swap. Comma often reads better for parenthetical asides. Remove if the dash was only decorative. Space if you are joining two clauses that already have punctuation.
Why do AI drafts use so many em dashes?
Many models overproduce them. This page is a cleanup pass, not a detector of generated text.