# How Humanizer Formats Bold Text Used as Decoration and Decorative Headings > Humanizer removes decorative bold text and headings like emojis and all caps, rewriting them as natural prose or sentence-case headings for authentic AI content. - Repository: [Siqi Chen/humanizer](https://github.com/blader/humanizer) - Tags: how-to-guide - Published: 2026-09-13 --- **Humanizer treats visual-only bold formatting and decorative heading elements—such as emoji prefixes, all-caps titles, and bold labels—as "tells" that must be removed, rewriting them as natural prose or normalized sentence-case headings to make AI-generated content sound authentically human.** Humanizer is an open-source text processing tool that eliminates stylistic artifacts from AI-generated markdown documents. When the tool encounters **bold text used as decoration** or **decorative headings**, it applies specific normalization rules defined in [`SKILL.md`](https://github.com/blader/humanizer/blob/main/SKILL.md) to strip visual flourishes that human writers would not use purely for style. These transformations preserve semantic meaning while converting artificial formatting into natural language. ## Bold Text as Decoration According to §19 of [`SKILL.md`](https://github.com/blader/humanizer/blob/main/SKILL.md), Humanizer identifies bold formatting that serves no semantic purpose—such as creating visual uniformity in lists or drawing attention to acronyms—and removes it to prevent the "AI-generated" aesthetic. ### Collapsing Bold Labels in Lists When list items use bold text as labels merely for decoration, the tool strips the markup and collapses the labeled items into cohesive prose sentences. **Input:** ```markdown - **User Experience:** The user experience has been significantly improved with a new interface. - **Performance:** Performance has been enhanced through optimized algorithms. - **Security:** Security has been strengthened with end-to-end encryption. ``` **Output:** ```markdown The update improves the interface, speeds up load times through optimized algorithms, and adds end-to-end encryption. ``` ### Removing Bold from Acronyms and Terms Bold formatting applied to acronyms or technical terms within flowing sentences is stripped unless it serves necessary semantic emphasis. **Input:** ```markdown It blends **OKRs (Objectives and Key Results)**, **KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)**, and visual strategy tools such as the **Business Model Canvas (BMC)** and **Balanced Scorecard (BSC)**. ``` **Output:** ```markdown It blends OKRs, KPIs, and visual strategy tools like the Business Model Canvas and Balanced Scorecard. ``` ## Decorative Headings Normalization Per §20 of [`SKILL.md`](https://github.com/blader/humanizer/blob/main/SKILL.md), Humanizer detects headings that rely on visual gimmicks—such as word-by-word capitalization, emoji prefixes, or horizontal rules—and normalizes them to sentence case while removing decorative symbols. ### Emoji and Symbol Removal Headings prefixed with emojis, arrows, or other decorative symbols are cleaned to contain only meaningful text, often converting them into complete sentences rather than heading elements. **Input:** ```markdown 🚀 **Launch Phase:** The product launches in Q3 💡 **Key Insight:** Users prefer simplicity ``` **Output:** ```markdown The product launches in Q3. User research showed a preference for simplicity. ``` ### Capitalization Standardization All-caps or title-case headings that appear decorative are converted to sentence case to match natural human writing patterns. **Input:** ```markdown ## Strategic Negotiations And Global Partnerships ``` **Output:** ```markdown ## Strategic negotiations and global partnerships ``` ## Implementation Details The formatting rules are implemented across three key files in the `blader/humanizer` repository: - **[`SKILL.md`](https://github.com/blader/humanizer/blob/main/SKILL.md)** — Contains the core logic for the *Bold as decoration* rule (§19) and the *Decorative headings* rule (§20), defining exactly which visual patterns trigger normalization. - **[`README.md`](https://github.com/blader/humanizer/blob/main/README.md)** — Documents the public interface and usage examples, ensuring that the documented behavior matches the internal rules found in [`SKILL.md`](https://github.com/blader/humanizer/blob/main/SKILL.md). - **[`AGENTS.md`](https://github.com/blader/humanizer/blob/main/AGENTS.md)** — Lists the agents that expose the Humanizer skill, explaining how these formatting transformations are applied when the skill is invoked programmatically. ## Summary - Humanizer removes **bold text used as decoration** by stripping markup from list labels and collapsing items into flowing prose. - **Decorative headings** featuring emojis, arrows, or all-caps formatting are normalized to sentence case with symbols removed. - The transformation rules are formally defined in [`SKILL.md`](https://github.com/blader/humanizer/blob/main/SKILL.md) §19-20 and exposed through agents listed in [`AGENTS.md`](https://github.com/blader/humanizer/blob/main/AGENTS.md). - These changes eliminate visual "tells" while preserving the semantic content and meaning of the original text. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Does Humanizer remove all bold formatting from documents? No. Humanizer specifically targets bold text used as decoration—such as uniform labels in lists or gratuitously bolded acronyms—while preserving bold formatting that serves legitimate semantic emphasis. The distinction is defined in the *Bold as decoration* rule in §19 of [`SKILL.md`](https://github.com/blader/humanizer/blob/main/SKILL.md). ### How does Humanizer handle headings with emoji prefixes? Humanizer strips emoji prefixes, arrows, and other decorative symbols from headings, converting them to plain sentence-case text. According to the *Decorative headings* rule in §20 of [`SKILL.md`](https://github.com/blader/humanizer/blob/main/SKILL.md), these visual elements are treated as artificial styling that human writers typically avoid in formal prose. ### Can Humanizer convert decorative headings back into regular headings? Yes, but the tool often converts short decorative headings into complete sentences within the body text rather than preserving them as heading elements. This occurs when the heading text functions more as a label than a structural section title, or when the heading repeats redundant information. ### Where are the formatting rules defined in the source code? The specific rules for bold text decoration and decorative headings are documented in **[`SKILL.md`](https://github.com/blader/humanizer/blob/main/SKILL.md)** sections 19 and 20. The [`README.md`](https://github.com/blader/humanizer/blob/main/README.md) file provides user-facing documentation that mirrors these internal rules, while [`AGENTS.md`](https://github.com/blader/humanizer/blob/main/AGENTS.md) describes how the skill is exposed to calling applications and automation agents.