Is it possible to disable richtext/html copying operating system-wide in OSX or Windows?

2

I have never once in the history of my computing life wanted to include formatting when copying text (i.e. copying text from a web page and pasting it somewhere), but this is the default behavior everywhere.

Is it possible to disable this system-wide? Any other solutions other than using an intermediate? I'm looking to replace OS behavior on copy to never include formatting on copy.

Just in case I need to clarify, I'm talking about:

  1. Copy a block of text from a website
  2. Paste it into word/email/any rich text editor
  3. Text formatting remains... sorta

Similar (unanswered) that is XP specific: How to disable text style copying on Windows XP?

Cory Mawhorter

Posted 2014-09-18T19:37:52.010

Reputation: 129

Disable formatting? Not sure... but as a workaround, you could use AutoHotKey to bind something to execute: copy, open notepad, paste, copy again, close notepad without saving (to remove the formatting and keep your text on the clipboard). – Wutnaut – 2014-09-18T19:42:20.527

Answers

3

On Windows this can be done using a tiny (33KB) free application called PureText:

Have you ever copied some text from a web page or a document and then wanted to paste it as simple text into another application without getting all the formatting from the original source? PureText makes this simple by adding a new Windows hot-key (default is WINDOWS+V) that allows you to paste text to any application without formatting.

What PureText Will and Will Not Do

PureText only removes rich formatting from text. This includes the font face, font style (bold, italics, etc.), font color, paragraph styles (left/right/center aligned), margins, character spacing, bullets, subscript, superscript, tables, charts, pictures, embedded objects, etc. However, it does not modify the actual text. It will not remove or fix new-lines, carriage returns, tabs, or other white-space. It will not fix word-wrap or clean up your paragraphs. If you copy the source code of a web page to the clipboard, it is not going to remove all the HTML tags. If you copy text from an actual web page (not the source of the page), it will remove the formatting.

PureText is basically equivalent to opening Notepad, doing a PASTE, followed by a SELECT-ALL, and then a COPY. The benefit of PureText is performing all these actions with a single Hot-Key and having the result pasted into the current window automatically.

I've been using it for many years - it does exactly what it promises. PureText is completely free to use.

DavidPostill

Posted 2014-09-18T19:37:52.010

Reputation: 118 938

Interesting, but as far as I can tell though, it doesn't do the work automatically? It looks like it does the magic on paste instead of on copy? Any experience using it with virtual machines or remote desktop? Better than nothing. OSX has Cmd + Shift + V which does something similar for all interested. – Cory Mawhorter – 2014-09-19T05:04:50.683

No it doesn't work automatically. You use a different keystroke instead of the normal ctrl+v to paste. Then it will convert the clipboard contents and paste "plain" text. I have mine bound to ctrl+q. I've never tried it with a remote desktop or virtual machine. – DavidPostill – 2014-09-19T06:16:43.647

Asked: 2014-09-18T19:37:52.010

Viewed: 583 times

Active: 2014-09-18T19:47:15.467