Inspection report—
Cleaned text
Ticked items are cleaned. This changes how the text is stored, not who wrote it.
Em dash remover
Paste your text to highlight every em dash and en dash. The cleaned copy swaps them for plain hyphens, ready to paste back.
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How it works
Short answer
To remove em dashes, paste your text above. Every em dash (—) and en dash (–) is highlighted and replaced with a plain hyphen in the cleaned text. You can also straighten curly quotes by ticking that option.
Text: characters that take up no space
A zero-width space sits between letters but draws nothing. It can break search, word counts and code, and can be used to mark copied text. Tag characters go further and spell out invisible messages.
When to keep a dash and when to change it
Em dashes aren't wrong. Good writers use them. The problem is overuse: three in a paragraph reads as a tic, and readers now associate that tic with AI-written text.
A quick way to edit after cleaning:
- Dash around an aside (the result — better than expected — was clear): use commas or brackets.
- Dash before a punchline (one thing mattered — speed): use a colon or a full stop.
- En dash in a range (2025–2026): a hyphen is fine, or write 2025 to 2026.
What else the checker finds
While you're here, the same scan shows invisible characters and unusual spaces that often travel with copied AI text. They're cleaned automatically unless you untick them. Curly quotes and the single-character ellipsis (…) are optional; tick Curly quotes and … if you want plain straight quotes.
Questions
What's the difference between an em dash and an en dash?
An em dash (—, U+2014) is the long one, used to break up a sentence. An en dash (–, U+2013) is shorter and used for ranges, like 9–5 or 2025–2026. A hyphen (-) is the short one on your keyboard.
Why do people remove em dashes from AI text?
Chatbots use em dashes far more than most people do, so heavy use has become a well-known sign of AI writing. Removing them doesn't change who wrote the text, but it does make it read more like your own style.
Should I replace an em dash with a hyphen or a comma?
This tool uses a hyphen so the meaning never breaks. For the most natural result, reread the sentence and use a comma, a full stop or brackets where they fit better.
How do I find em dashes in Word?
Use Find and Replace and search for ^+ (em dash) or ^= (en dash).