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Firefox Copy Code

Martin Brinkmann — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 09:05:25 +0000

While most users want to make sure that copied text from their web browser does not contain any formatting or code some users might just need that. Web developers for instance might be inclined to copy the html instead of the plain text to be able to process it further or use the information to paste it into an editor that is compatible to html code.

One example could be to copy a nicely formatted html table into a rich text editor. It is possible to copy the html manually by looking at the source code, finding the code and text that should be copied and pasting that code into another application.

Copy Code on the other hand automates the process. After installing the Firefox add-on it is simply a matter of selecting the text on the website that should be copied, right-clicking when that is done and choosing the Copy HTML entry from the menu.

The Copy Code add-on for Firefox is a experimental add-on which means that users who want to install it need to log into the Mozilla website first.

Update: Copy Code has been discontinued. Firefox users can take a look at the Copy HTML add-on which provides a similar functionality.

Copy Paste

Martin Brinkmann — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 11:53:03 +0000

Copy Paste is probably one of those operations that almost every user does on a daily basis. The possibilities are almost endless, copying urls to paste them in emails, copying text to paste it in documents, copying images to paste them in image editors. Basically everything information can be copied and pasted with just a few keys on the keyboard. A quick how to copy and paste: A user can use the CTRL C combination to copy contents and CTRL V to paste the contents of the Windows Clipboard.

Copy Paste does have a few weaknesses though. If you copy rich text and paste it into a rich text editor the formatting will remain. The problem can be frustrating if the formatting has been used extensively and should not appear in the destination form. Lots of bold colored text does not look good in a scientific paper usually.

PureText is a small 13 Kilobyte software application for Windows that sits quietly in the Windows System Tray waiting for the user to copy text to the Clipboard. It does not convert the copied contents automatically but provides that option when pasting the contents of the Windows Clipboard.

Instead of pressing CTRL C CTRL V to copy paste the contents the user can define an alternative keyboard shortcut to paste the contents of the Clipboard without the formatting.

The default keyboard shortcut to paste the contents of the Windows Clipboard without formatting is Windows V but it can be changed to any other key combination with the Windows, Shift or Control key. Users who always want to get rid of the formatting could replace the CTRL V with that one.

PureText is compatible to most versions of Windows since Windows 95 up to Windows Vista. The copy paste software program uses roughly 3.5 Megabytes of computer memory.

Copy text without formatting

Martin Brinkmann — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 11:48:19 +0000

I sometimes quote websites and do a normal copy paste job to copy the website content to the editor of my blog or into a word processor. Unfortunately this copy job always pastes the original formatting of the original source to the editor as well which means that the text may have a different size, font type or color. It is quite a hassle to remove the formatting of the copied contents to make it look like the rest of your content.

Puretext is a freeware utility that helps you in this special case. It adds a new windows hot key to your system (Windows + V) which removes all the formatting of the text that is pasted into your editor. You have some options in puretext like changing the hotkey to Shift + V or ALT + V instead of the default one. You are free to change the key that needs to be pressed as well, making it highly flexible.

Another option if selected pastes the converted text automatically into the active window when you press the hotkey. If you do not enable this the text is stripped of the formatting but not pasted into the editor. You are free to play a sound when this is done but I would advise against it. You may also auto run puretext with every windows start by enabling that option in puretext.