The Unindent Text Tool (also called a Dedenter) is a free online utility that removes leading whitespace (spaces or tabs) from the beginning of each line in your text. It features smart Auto-Detect mode that finds and removes common baseline indentation while preserving relative structure, or Manual mode to strip all leading whitespace completely.

Auto-Detect looks at all your lines, finds the minimum amount of indentation they all share, and removes exactly that amount. This is perfect for fixing code that was copied with extra padding from nested sources, as it keeps the internal nesting structure correct while removing the excessive left margin.

Yes! Select 'Manual' mode, choose 'Everything', and the tool will strip every single space and tab from the start of every line, bringing all text flush to the left margin.

Use Auto-Detect when you've copied code from inside a nested function/class and want to remove the common baseline indentation while preserving the relative structure (e.g., if statements still indented within functions). Use Manual mode when you want to completely remove ALL indentation and start fresh.

When you copy code from inside nested structures (like a method inside a class inside a module), it retains all that nesting indentation. For example, code at the 4th nesting level has 16 spaces of indentation. This tool removes that excess padding so the code looks clean when pasted elsewhere.

Yes! Most unindent tools include file upload functionality. Upload your .py, .js, .java, .txt, or any code file, select Auto or Manual mode, and download the cleaned result. Much faster than manually removing indentation from large files.

Yes! The tool handles both spaces and tabs. Auto-Detect mode intelligently finds the common baseline regardless of whether your file uses spaces, tabs, or a mix. It preserves whatever whitespace type remains after removing the baseline.

Absolutely. All processing happens entirely in your browser using client-side JavaScript. Your code or proprietary text never leaves your computer or gets uploaded to our servers, ensuring complete privacy for sensitive source code.

No! Auto-Detect mode specifically preserves relative indentation. If you had a function with an if statement inside, the if statement will still be indented relative to the function after unindenting. Only the common baseline padding is removed.

Shift+Tab typically removes one indentation level at a time, requiring multiple presses for deeply nested code. This tool instantly removes all common baseline indentation in one click, regardless of depth. It's also useful for text from sources where you can't easily select all lines (PDFs, websites, emails).