How to use the Truncate Text
Truncate text to any limit in four steps:
1
Paste your text
Paste the text you want to truncate into the input area.
2
Set mode and limit
Choose Words or Characters mode. Enter your limit number — 50 words, 155 characters, etc.
3
Configure suffix
Set the suffix appended after truncation (default '…'). In character mode, toggle 'Count suffix in limit' to include the suffix characters in the total count for strict limits.
4
Convert and copy
Click 'Truncate Text' and copy or download the result. The progress bar shows input length vs your limit.
When to use this tool
Use to create excerpts, previews, and length-limited strings:
- →Creating consistent article excerpts for blog listing pages or search results where descriptions must all be the same length
- →Truncating product descriptions to a character limit for card views, tooltips, or mobile displays
- →Generating preview text for email subject lines within the 50–60 character recommended length
- →Preparing meta descriptions that fit within the 155-character Google search result preview window
- →Cutting long strings in data processing pipelines to fit within a fixed-width database column
- →Generating short social media post previews from longer article content for link cards
Frequently asked questions
Q:Does word truncation ever cut in the middle of a word?
No — word truncation always cuts at a complete word boundary. It splits the text on whitespace, keeps the first N words, and joins them back together. This means the output always ends at a natural word boundary, which is appropriate for excerpts and previews that will be read by humans.
Q:Does character truncation cut mid-word?
Yes — character truncation is exact and cuts at the specified character position regardless of word boundaries. 'Hello World' truncated to 7 characters gives 'Hello W…'. If you want character-precise truncation that also respects word boundaries, use word mode instead, which gives you a word count that approximately corresponds to your character target.
Q:What does 'Count suffix in limit' do?
When enabled in character mode, the suffix length is subtracted from the effective limit before cutting. For example, with a 155-character limit and a 1-character suffix '…', the tool cuts at 154 characters and then appends '…', giving a total output of exactly 155 characters. This is essential when you need to guarantee the entire output including the suffix fits within a strict character limit, such as a meta description.
Q:What suffix should I use?
The default '…' (Unicode ellipsis, U+2026) is a single character and the most widely used truncation indicator. You can also use '...' (three periods, three characters), ' [Read more]', ' →', or any other string. Note that '...' is three separate characters and counts as 3 in the character limit, while '…' is one character and counts as 1. Use whichever matches your design system's convention.
Q:What happens if the input is shorter than the limit?
If the input text is shorter than or equal to the configured limit, no truncation is applied and the text is returned as-is without appending the suffix. The suffix is only appended when actual truncation occurs, so the result is always clean regardless of input length.
Q:Can I use this to generate meta descriptions that fit Google's preview?
Yes — set character mode, enter 155 as the limit, enable 'Count suffix in limit', and use '…' as the suffix. The tool will cut your description so the total output including the ellipsis is exactly 155 characters. Google displays approximately 155–160 characters in search results depending on character width, so staying at or below 155 is the safe target.