Cleanup Text
WordPress posts and pages can contain Smart quotes and other fancy characters. But Smartquotes and other special characters don’t work properly if you send the contents of a post by email. This plugin cleans up text so…
Consider an alternative
Cleanup Text shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 10+ sites and was last updated 16 years ago, and scores 23/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (10+ active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
- No update in 16 years
- Only tested up to WordPress 3.0 (latest is 7.1)
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support
Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where Cleanup Text stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| filter | >100 |
| html | >100 |
| Smart Quotes | >100 |
| special characters | >100 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
About Cleanup Text
From the official readme · v2.0.1Description
WordPress posts and pages can contain Smart quotes and other fancy characters. But Smartquotes and other special characters don’t work properly if you send the contents of a post by email. This plugin cleans up text so it can be emailed properly.
Instead of using this plugin you could use WordPress filters to reformat text, but WordPress filters cannot be used with PHP functions like strip_tags. If you use a filter to remove Smart quotes you can’t also use strip_tags to remove HTML.
Also, WordPress filters don’t remove all the characters that could cause problems. For example, double spaces are not removed properly by WordPress, and Europeans will have problems with the UK pound currency symbol.
This very simple plugin removes all sorts of special characters, including double spaces and currency symbols that WordPress filters don’t manage.
It also has an option to remove HTML.
Installation
1) Copy the file cleanup_text.php to your WordPress plugins directory.
2) Login to WordPress as an administrator, go to Plugins and Activate it.
3) Call the plugin anywhere in your theme or other PHP code.
E.g. replace “the_content()” with “cleanup_text( the_content() )”
Changelog
For changelog please visit http://www.thehypervisor.com/cleanup-text/
For developers
Is this your plugin? Show off the numbers.
Add a live badge to your site, docs or GitHub README. It updates on its own — no account needed.
Best Cleanup Text alternatives
All filter plugins →
FAQ
Cleanup Text: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Sep 28, 2026
Is Cleanup Text free?
Yes. Cleanup Text is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Cleanup Text safe to use in 2026?
Cleanup Text shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 10+ sites and was last updated 16 years ago, and scores 23/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Cleanup Text?
Cleanup Text is active on 10+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 3,110 times since it launched in May 2010. It was downloaded 78 times in the last 30 days.
Does Cleanup Text work with WordPress 7.1?
Cleanup Text is officially tested up to WordPress 3.0.0, while the latest release is 7.1.2. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
When was Cleanup Text last updated?
The latest version, 2.0.1, was released on August 12, 2010 (16 years ago).
Who makes Cleanup Text?
Cleanup Text is developed and maintained by roggie.
What are the best alternatives to Cleanup Text?
The most popular alternatives to Cleanup Text are HUSKY (80K+ installs), Search & Filter (50K+ installs) and Allow HTML in Category Desc… (8K+ installs).
Powered by PageForge
Want thousands of pages that rank like these? Build them in an afternoon.
This directory runs on the same engine as PageForge. Turn any spreadsheet, CSV or API into thousands of fast, SEO-ready WordPress pages — with schema, internal links and AI-written copy baked in.
- CSV, Google Sheets & API data sources
- AI content, schema & internal links per page
- Works with Elementor, Gutenberg, Yoast & Rank Math
- Free on WordPress.org — no credit card
