Truncate text online: shorten to any character or word limit

Shorten any text to an exact character, word, or sentence limit with ToolHQ's truncate text tool, paste your content, set the limit, choose whether to add an ellipsis, and get the trimmed version instantly.

Text truncation is the process of cutting a string to a specified length, by characters, words, or sentences, and optionally appending an indicator (typically "...") to show that the full text continues beyond the cutoff point.

Every digital platform has field length limits. Meta descriptions get cut off in search results around 155 characters. Tweet content stops counting at 280. SMS messages segment after 160 characters. Open Graph descriptions show approximately 200 characters on social previews. Manually counting characters in long text is tedious; a truncation tool gives you the correctly sized string in one step.

Key takeaways

• Truncate by character count, word count, or sentence count
• Optional ellipsis (...) appended to indicate truncated content
• Common limits built in: meta description (155 chars), tweet (280), SMS (160), OG description (200)
• Processed in your browser, no data is sent anywhere
• Line-by-line mode truncates each line of a multi-line input independently

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Common truncation limits by platform

Platform / use case	Character limit	Notes
Google meta description	155-160 chars	Shown in SERPs; longer gets cut
Twitter / X post	280 chars	Hard limit on the platform
SMS text message (single segment)	160 chars	153 chars if using Unicode
Open Graph description	~200 chars	Varies by platform that reads OG
LinkedIn post intro	~210 chars	Before "see more" truncation
Google Ads headline	30 chars	Per headline field
Google Ads description	90 chars	Per description field
Email subject line	50-60 chars	Safe length before mobile clipping
Notification text	100-120 chars	Varies by OS and device
Database VARCHAR field	Varies	Set by schema definition

These are practical targets, not absolute hard rules. Most platforms clip server-side or visually, so the specific cut-off can vary by a few characters depending on device and font rendering.

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How text truncation works

Character truncation

The most common mode. The tool counts characters from the beginning of the text and cuts at the specified number. If an ellipsis is requested, it is either appended after the cut (potentially exceeding the limit by three characters) or the cut is made at limit-minus-3 to keep the final string within the target length.

Example at 50 characters with ellipsis:

• Input: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog on a warm summer afternoon."
• Output: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog on a..."

Word truncation

The tool counts whole words and cuts after the specified number. This avoids cutting a word in the middle, which produces unnatural-looking truncations like "The quick bro..."

Example at 8 words:

• Input: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."
• Output: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy..."

Sentence truncation

The tool counts complete sentences and cuts after the specified number. Useful for article previews and excerpt generation where you want complete thoughts rather than a mid-sentence cutoff.

Example at 1 sentence:

• Input: "This is the first sentence. This is the second. This is the third."
• Output: "This is the first sentence."

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When you need a truncate text tool

Writing meta descriptions. Meta descriptions for Google should be 150-160 characters, long enough to convey a complete thought, short enough to avoid truncation in search results. Writing to length and verifying with a character counter is easier when a truncation tool shows you exactly where the visible cut falls.

Creating social media previews. Open Graph and Twitter Card descriptions are truncated when a link is shared. Knowing your text will fit within the preview character limit prevents cut-off descriptions on shared posts.

Generating article excerpts. Blog listing pages, RSS feeds, and email newsletters typically show a preview of each article. Truncating to a consistent word or sentence count creates uniform-looking previews without manually editing each one.

Database and API field limits. When inserting text into a VARCHAR field with a defined maximum length, truncating before submission prevents database errors. Many APIs also have field limits on text parameters; truncating client-side avoids server-side rejections.

Notification and alert text. Push notifications on mobile devices show 100-120 characters before the message is cut by the OS. Writing notification copy to this limit ensures the full message is visible without tapping to expand.

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Mini-story: A content marketer was writing meta descriptions for 80 product pages. She had a draft for each page that was typically 200-250 characters, well over the 155-character target. Rather than manually counting and editing each one, she pasted each description into the truncate tool with the 155-character limit and ellipsis enabled, copied the result, and compared it against her original to identify what needed reworking. The tool turned a 90-minute manual task into 30 minutes of efficient revision.

Try ToolHQ's truncate text tool

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How to use the truncate text tool

1. Paste your text into the input box. For batch processing, paste multiple texts separated by newlines and use line-by-line mode.
2. Choose a truncation mode. Character count, word count, or sentence count.
3. Enter the limit. Type the number of characters, words, or sentences to keep.
4. Toggle ellipsis. Enable "add ellipsis" to append "..." to the truncated output. Choose whether the ellipsis counts toward the limit or is added after it.
5. Click "Truncate." The shortened text appears in the output box. Copy it and paste it into your target field.

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Mini-story: A developer was building a product recommendation widget that displayed each product name and description in a fixed-height card. Long product descriptions were breaking the layout. She extracted all descriptions from the database, ran them through the truncation tool at 120 characters per line with the line-by-line mode enabled, and imported the truncated versions as a "short_description" field. The widget layout worked correctly for all products without any layout fixes needed in CSS.

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Frequently asked questions

Does the ellipsis count toward the character limit? This depends on the mode you choose. Most tools offer both options: "append after limit" (the result is limit+3 characters) or "fit within limit" (the result is truncated at limit-3 to leave room for the ellipsis). Choose based on whether your target has a hard character cap.

What is "word-aware" truncation? Word-aware truncation cuts at a word boundary so the truncation does not split a word in half. Instead of "The quick bro...", you get "The quick brown..." The tool backs up to the nearest space before the character limit.

Can I truncate a list of lines independently? Yes. Enable line-by-line mode to apply the same character limit to every line in a multi-line input separately. Each line is truncated independently, and the output retains the same number of lines as the input.

What should I set for a Twitter / X post limit? Set 280 characters for standard posts. For posts that include a link (which adds a t.co shortened URL counted as 23 characters), set 257 characters for the text portion.

Is my text stored or sent anywhere? No. Processed in your browser, no data is sent anywhere. All truncation happens locally.

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The short version

Text truncation tools solve one specific problem: platform limits. Meta descriptions at 155 characters, tweets at 280, SMS at 160, notification text at 120. Paste your text, set the limit, add an ellipsis if needed, and copy the result. Word-aware and sentence-aware truncation avoid mid-word cutoffs for cleaner output.

Truncate your text now at ToolHQ, character, word, and sentence modes, ellipsis control, line-by-line batch mode, no account needed.

For related tools, try character counter to check lengths before truncating, or word counter for word-level length checks.