How do I remove the asterisks from ChatGPT text?

ChatGPT writes its answers in Markdown, a plain-text formatting language. In the chat window you see the formatted result. When the text reaches a place that does not read Markdown, you see the source, and most of it is asterisks:

You see	Markdown meaning	Rendered
**Key point**	Bold	Key point
*really*	Italics	really
***Note***	Bold and italics	Note
* First item at the start of a line	Bullet point	• First item
\*	A literal asterisk (escaped)	*

The usual places they show up are email, LinkedIn and other social posts, web forms, text messages, Word and Google Docs. All of them treat pasted plain text as plain text. The Copy button under a ChatGPT answer is the usual source, because it copies the Markdown rather than the formatted version.

Not every asterisk is formatting. Footnote markers (Price*), multiplication (5 * 3), wildcards in search terms and file patterns (*.pdf), and starred ratings are real content. Any method that removes asterisks wholesale removes those too, which is why it matters how the removal is done. For email and LinkedIn specifically, pasting ChatGPT text into email or LinkedIn covers which destinations can keep formatting and which cannot.

Remove Markdown Formatting removes the asterisks along with the rest of the Markdown, in your browser, using fixed find-and-replace rules. It never adds, removes or changes a word; the test suite checks that every word of the input survives in order.

1. Paste the ChatGPT text.
2. Copy the clean text from the result panel. The counter shows how many symbols were removed.
3. Tick Show what changed to see a word-level diff, with each removed character struck through.

By default it removes bold and italic markers (**, *, __, _), heading hashes, link syntax (the link text stays), backticks around code, block-quote arrows and horizontal rules. Bullets written with - become •, numbered items keep their numbers, and table rows become tab-separated cells. Switches above the editor keep link URLs, remove list markers for flowing prose, leave fenced code exactly as written, and tidy doubled spaces and stacked blank lines.

Where it can get things wrong, so you know what to check in the diff:

• Lone asterisks pair up. A single * that is real content, such as a footnote mark or a multiplication sign, is treated as the start of italics and paired with the next lone asterisk in the text, even paragraphs later. Both are removed.
• Lists bulleted with *. The rule that removes italic markers runs before the bullet rule, so a list that uses * instead of - can come out inconsistent: some items lose their marker entirely, others get a •. ChatGPT usually bullets with -, but check pasted lists from other sources.
• Tildes and backticks pair up too. Two single ~ characters, as in ~20 to ~30, are read as strikethrough markers and removed.
• Identifiers are safe. Underscores inside words such as snake_case_word and MY_ENV_VAR are left alone.

For text that also has em dashes, curly quotes or hidden characters, the AI Text Cleaner handles those, with an option to remove Markdown in the same pass.

If the text is already in a document, the editor's own Find and Replace works.

Microsoft Word

1. Press Ctrl+H (or Home > Editing > Replace).
2. In Find what, type **. Leave Replace with empty. Click Replace All.
3. Repeat with a single * to remove italic markers and stray bullets.

Leave Use wildcards unticked. In wildcard mode * means "any string of characters", so searching for it would match whole passages of text.

To keep the bold instead of just deleting the markers, use wildcards on purpose. Click More >>, tick Use wildcards, then:

• Find what: \*\*(*)\*\* (a backslash makes the asterisk literal; the brackets capture the text between)
• Replace with: \1, then with the cursor in that box click Format > Font and choose Bold.

Use Find Next and Replace for the first few matches to check that each one covers only the bold phrase, then Replace All.

Google Docs

1. Click Edit > Find and replace.
2. Next to Find, type **. Leave Replace with empty. Click Replace all.
3. Repeat with *.

Docs supports regular expressions for finding, but Google notes that in Docs the replacement is inserted as literal text, so you cannot keep the bold with a capture group as you can in Word. For that, Docs has a better route: turn on Tools > Preferences > Enable Markdown, then paste the original ChatGPT text with right-click Paste from Markdown. The asterisks become real bold and italics.

Two habits cut down on asterisks before they reach your document:

• Copy the rendered answer, not the source. Select the formatted text in the chat window with the mouse and copy that, instead of using the Copy button. Most browsers then put formatted text on the clipboard, which Word, Google Docs and many email apps paste with real bold and bullets. Plain-text destinations drop the formatting and keep the words. Results vary by browser and app, so check the first paste.
• Ask for plain text. Ending a prompt with "reply in plain text, no Markdown, no bold, no bullet points" works most of the time. It is not guaranteed, and a long conversation can drift back to Markdown, so a quick check before sending is still worthwhile.

Neither habit helps with text you have already pasted, or with answers from other AI tools that use the same Markdown. For those, remove or convert the Markdown after the fact.

Deleting the asterisks also deletes what they meant. That is right for a text message, a form field or a LinkedIn post. It is wrong for a report where the bold headings and lists were doing real work.

• Plain text is the goal (email body, form, social post, chat message): use Remove Markdown Formatting or Find and Replace.
• Formatted document is the goal (Word, Google Docs): convert instead. Markdown to Word turns the asterisks into real bold, italics and lists in a .docx, and Markdown to Google Docs gives you rich text to paste into Docs. Why pasted AI text shows ** and ## in Word explains the Word side in more detail.

Sources for the Word and Google Docs steps: Microsoft Support, Find and replace text in Word; Google Docs Editors Help, Search and use find and replace and Use Markdown in Google Docs, Slides, & Drawings. Checked October 2026.