How to copy and paste code without rich text formatting?

Question

I used to often find myself coping a piece of code from a website/Word document etc only to discover that when doing Paste I would end up with the desired code plus some extra html tags/text, basically extra formatting information.

To get rid of that extra ballast I would paste the text to the Notepad and then copy it again and then paste to the desired destination.

Pretty recently I discovered a simple and free tool for Windows called PureText that allows me to cut the Notepad step. It basically adds an extra keyboard shortcut e.g WinKey + V that will do the Paste action without formatting; just pure text. I find it very handy.

I was wondering what approach would you use yourselves? Are they any better/easier to use tools around?

Answer 1

From websites, using Firefox, I use the CopyPlainText extension.

Answer 2

If you're pasting into Word you can use the Paste Special command.

Answer 3

Look for a little clipboard icon that pops up at the end of the material you pasted. Click on this and choose "keep text only".

Answer 4

I use OpenOffice.org and that offers a paste special option, where you can omit the formatting altogether. If you are not bound to MS Word, it's IMO worth a try and it's free :-)

Answer 5

Nice find with your PureText. I had build, before I change keyboard, a key that was running a macro that was copying-pasting-copying in notepad for this task! I'll give a try to your software since I do not have any macro key now :(

Answer 6

Just for reference, under Mac OS X, you can SHIFT-ALT-CMD + V (to paste) without formatting or with the "current" format.

Answer 7

Whenever these plugins and options aren't available I just use my good ol friend notepad. Paste content into notepad where it won't accept the extra formatting and then copy it right back out. Sort of hacky but oh well. It works!

Answer 8

I usually work with Notepad2, all the text I copy from the web are pasted there and then reused, that allows me to clean it (from format and make modifications).

You can download Notepad2 here

Answer 9

I wrote an unpublished java app to monitor the clipboard, replacing items that offered text along with other richer formats, with items only offering the plain text format.

Answer 10

I have Far.exe as the first item in the start menu.

Richtext in the clipboard ->

ctrl-escape,arrdown,enter,shift-f4,$,enter
shift-insert,ctrl-insert,alt-backspace,
f10,enter

-> plaintext in the clipboard

Pros: no mouse, just blind typing, ends exactly where i was before

Cons: ANSI encoding - international symbols are lost

Luckily, I do not have to do that too often :)

Answer 11

If you are using MS Word then try ALT+E, S, U, Enter (Uses the Paste Special)

Answer 12

I'm a big fan of Autohotkey. I defined a 'paste plain text' macro that works in any application. It runs when I press Ctrl+Shift+V. The nice thing about Autohotkey: you can code things to work they way you want them to work.

^+v::
    ; Convert any copied files, HTML, or other formatted text to plain text
    Clipboard = %Clipboard%

    ; Paste by pressing Ctrl+V
    SendInput, ^v
return

Answer 13

Just to summarise the available options:

Tools

• PureText - free tool for Windows
• Use Autokey and write own macro as suggested by Dean

Browser's Plugins

• CopyPlainText - Firefox extension (suggested by cori)

Other

• under Mac OS X, you can SHIFT-ALT-CMD + V (to paste) without formatting or with the "current" format (by Martin)
• Paste to Notepad, and then copy from Notepad and paste again

Please feel free to edit/add new items