Why selected text pastes with formatting junk
The browser does not copy plain text when you press Ctrl/Cmd+C. It copies the HTML fragment of your selection — every <span>, inline style, font-face declaration and tracking pixel used to render that section on the page.
If the paste target accepts rich formatting (email, Word, Notion, Google Docs, a CMS editor), it keeps that markup. What you see is a messy blend of the source page's design and your document's theme. If you paste into a Markdown editor or AI prompt, the invisible characters can silently corrupt your text.
Paste as plain text shortcuts
Ctrl+Shift+V (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+V/Cmd+Shift+Option+V (Mac) pastes unformatted text in many apps. It works — but only if the app supports it, and you have to remember to use it every time.
Clipboard managers
Tools like Ditto, Maccy or Paste can strip formatting as a rule. They add a clipboard history panel and a margin of convenience, but they sit outside the browser and your workflow.
Browser extensions
A copy-as-clean-text extension like Clean Copy fixes the problem at the source: it converts your selection before it reaches the clipboard. Every paste — anywhere — is clean by default. No shortcuts to remember.
Five ways to copy clean text
1️⃣ Paste-special shortcut (built-in)
Windows: Ctrl+Shift+V — works in Chrome, Word, Gmail, Teams, Slack, VS Code, Obsidian and most modern apps. Ctrl+Alt+V (Paste Special dialog) for older apps.
Mac: Cmd+Shift+V or Cmd+Shift+Option+V depending on the app. Gmail and Word use the four-key combo.
Limitation: Requires manual activation every paste. If you paste 50 times a day, you have to think about formatting 50 times.
2️⃣ Paste as plain text via app setting
Some apps let you set paste-to-match-style as the default. Obsidian has a toggle. VS Code has a setting (editor.pasteAs). Gmail does not. Result: it only works in the apps you configure, and you configure it app by app.
3️⃣ Clipboard manager with format stripping
Tools like Ditto (Windows) or Maccy (Mac) keep a history of copied items and can strip rich formatting on paste. Helpful for power users who copy-paste all day, but an extra app to install and manage.
4️⃣ Clean Copy Chrome extension (recommended)
Clean Copy adds a right-click menu and a keyboard shortcut (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+C). Select any text on any website, invoke Clean Copy, and the clipboard receives clean text or Markdown — no matter where you paste next. Runs entirely in the browser, no data sent anywhere, MIT licensed and free.
5️⃣ Clean Copy Web — no install at all
Not on your own computer? Clean Copy Web runs in any browser: paste messy text or HTML, copy back clean Markdown or plain text. Nothing is uploaded. Prefer zero setup on your own browser? The Clean Copy bookmarklet adds one-click clean copying to your bookmarks bar — no extension needed. dansk version →
Install Clean Copy in 30 seconds
- Install Clean Copy — free — takes under a minute.
- Select text → right-click → Clean Copy → Markdown or clean text.
Or press Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+C to copy selected text as Markdown immediately. Install guide on the Clean Copy page.
Everything in this guide is free. The fiftieth copy is what Pro is for.
Everything in this guide is free, and it stays free: the Chrome extension, Clean Copy Web, the bookmarklet, every conversion mode in both, and no limit on how much text you paste. Method 1 costs nothing and always will. If you copy five times a week, you never need to pay for anything here.
What the free tools cannot do is stop the repetition. Method 1 above asks you to think about formatting once per paste — this guide's own words: if you paste 50 times a day, you have to think about formatting 50 times — and method 3 only helps afterwards, because a clipboard history lets you go back and fix what you have already pasted. Both assume the volume is small. Clean Copy Pro takes the volume out of the equation instead of charging you for the repetition: batch conversion converts a whole list of blocks in one pass rather than one at a time, and custom cleanup rules let you decide once what gets stripped — keep the links, drop the tracking spans, unwrap the nested tables — so the twentieth copy is not the same decision as the first.
| What you get | Free | Clean Copy Pro — $19/year |
|---|---|---|
| The Chrome extension | included, MIT | included |
| Clean Copy Web — no install at all | included, MIT | included |
| The bookmarklet | included, MIT | included |
| Conversion modes | every conversion mode in the extension and on the web tool | the same modes, plus the two rows below |
| How much text per paste | no limit on how much text you paste | the same |
| How many pastes you run | one at a time | batch conversion — a whole list of blocks in one pass |
| What the cleaner strips | the built-in rules, the same every time | your own cleanup rules on top |
The licence covers up to 5 of your own machines. Buying it does not change the free tools: the extension, the web tool and the bookmarklet stay free and stay MIT. Pro only adds the last two rows.
Frequently asked questions
How do I paste without formatting on Mac?
Cmd+Shift+Option+V pastes as plain text in most Mac apps. Cmd+Shift+V also works in many. The Clean Copy Chrome extension removes the need entirely — copy cleanly once, paste anywhere.
Why does copied text have weird fonts and sizes?
You copied the page's HTML markup. The browser transferred every style rule that the page used. Use Clean Copy to strip the markup before it reaches your clipboard.
Does Clean Copy work in Word or Google Docs?
Clean Copy writes clean text or Markdown to your clipboard. When you then paste into Word or Google Docs, the text arrives clean — no styles, no font changes, no smart quotes. Works universally because it operates at the clipboard level.
Related: Copy ChatGPT into Word · HTML to Markdown converter
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