How to clean XML
Open XML Cleaner when you need to tidy valid XML and keep it as XML. You can normalize text whitespace, remove comments, choose empty elements to remove, and inspect the serialized result in a before/after preview. The page processes the document in your browser without uploading it.
What XML Cleaner changes
XML Cleaner changes the parts you select and leaves the result as XML. The available cleanup work covers text whitespace, comments, and empty elements. Review the serialized result before you copy it into another system.
Whitespace cleanup applies to text inside the document. Comment removal affects XML comments when that option is selected. For empty elements, you choose what to remove, so an empty element can stay in the document when you still need it.
<item> Alpha <!-- old note --> <value/> </item><item>Alpha<value/></item>With whitespace and comment cleanup selected, the extra spaces and comment are gone in the second sample. The empty <value/> element remains because its removal is a separate choice.
How to review cleaned XML
Compare the before and after preview before you use the cleaned document. Check whether a comment disappeared and whether an empty element was removed as intended. That review also shows which text whitespace changed.
For generated exports, inspect the element names, nesting, and values around the edited parts. XML Cleaner works on valid XML and keeps the output in XML instead of turning it into JSON, CSV, or another format.
When to use XML Cleaner
- Review an XML export before committing it to a repository, with comment and whitespace changes visible in the preview.
- Prepare a document for comparison by normalizing text whitespace that would otherwise look like a content change.
- Remove chosen empty elements from a response or configuration file before passing the XML to the next step.
- Inspect a generated XML document in the browser while keeping its contents on the page instead of uploading them.
XML Clean Tools and other XML tools
XML Clean Tools is for tidying valid XML while keeping XML as the output. For another XML task, XML Tools covers cleaning, validating, comparing, merging, querying with XPath, and converting XML to JSON. This category currently contains XML Cleaner, with options for whitespace normalization, comment removal, chosen empty-element removal, and a before/after preview.
Frequently asked questions
How do I clean XML without changing the format?
Open XML Cleaner, choose the cleanup actions you need, and review the serialized result in the before and after preview. The output stays XML.
Can I remove comments from XML?
Yes. Select comment removal, then check the before and after preview to confirm that the XML comments were removed.
How do I remove empty elements from XML?
Choose the empty elements you want to remove. Any empty elements you leave unselected remain in the cleaned XML.
Does XML Clean Tools upload my XML?
No. XML Clean Tools runs locally in your browser, and the category page states that the XML is not uploaded.