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Sindre Sorhus
p/sindre-sorhusFull-Time Open-Sourcerer & Aspiring Rebel
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Zak

Pure Paste - Paste as plain text by default

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Paste as plain text by default. It clears formatting (fonts, colors, bold, links, tables, etc.) from the text you copy. However, it does not touch unrelated content like files, images, etc. It also ignores content copied from password managers.

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Erik Rasmussen
How @sindresorhus is able to notice all the little daily paper cuts of computer use and mend them never ceases to amaze me. All the best ideas seems so stupidly obvious in retrospect, and this is one of them. The last time I wanted formatting to go along with copied text was before Sindre was born, I think, and yet the operating systems continue to think that I do. Bravo, Sindre. 👏
Basharath
Nice idea but a simple plain text editor does this by default. So on what context is this developed.?
Sindre Sorhus
Maker
@basharath You don't need this if you only paste stuff into a plain text editor, but most users copy rich-text content and paste it into emails, websites, Word, etc, and don't want the formatting.
Basharath
@sindresorhus I was thinking what you made is an editor. So which means does it modify the content on the clipboard? I can't try this tool because I'm not running mac. How will this tool work when I'm pasting the content in my email editor?
Sindre Sorhus
Maker
@basharath See the explanation in my other comment.
Basharath
@sindresorhus Got it, I missed your product description actually. PH doesn't seem to pin the makers first comment. Good work. Congrats on the launch!
Sindre Sorhus
Maker
Hey PH. @rjonesy asked me if I could make an app for this and I had been wanting a small project I could finish in a day. Menu bar apps are kinda my speciality. The app lives the menu bar but there's a setting to hide the menu bar icon if you have little space. It runs in the background, detects when the clipboard changes (when you copy something), and clears the formatting if the content is rich text, which enables you to paste as plain text. The app requires macOS 12 or later. Let me know if you have any feedback or if you encounter any issues. FAQ > Why not just use the "Paste and Match Style" menu item or "⌘⌥⇧V"? The keyboard shortcut is hard to remember and type, and this app can exclude certain apps, preserve links, and also remove tracking parameters from URLs. > Why not just remap the "Paste and Match Style" keyboard shortcut to "⌘V"? This app can also exclude certain apps, preserve links, and also remove tracking parameters from URLs.
Chris Messina
Top Hunter
Which apps is that keyboard shortcut not available in? I didn't realize that limitation!
Sindre Sorhus
Maker
@chrismessina In some apps, the menu item is named differently, so you need special remapping just for those apps, for example, Word. In other apps, like Chrome, the keyboard shortcut is different, ⌘⇧V. This app makes it *just work*.
Sindre Sorhus
Maker
@chrismessina Also, in the latest update, it can now also optionally preserve links (while still removing all other formatting) and also remove tracking parameters from URLs (yay privacy!).
Abhi S
so practical :) , nice, excited to use this.
Riddhi Dagli
@sindresorhus Congratulations on the launch!!! This is a super time-saving product and very helpful. Thank you so much for this and all the very best :D
Rodrigo Ghedin
What's the difference or improvement over just past using Command + Option + Shift + V?
Sindre Sorhus
Maker
@ghedin See the FAQ in my above comment.
Christian C
copy/pasting formatted text is quite annoying, this tool is very clever! well done!
Nikita Kukreja
Wow!
Oliver Bylett
An everday problem solved, great work!
Tanya Gupta
Congratulations on the launch!! We are launching on Thursday too, would love to connect and discuss all the strategies and your journey!
Aaliyah Jabal
Interesting
Aino Valtonen
Sometimes the simplest ideas are the most helpful ones! Congrats on the launch :)
Manab Boruah
Launching soon!
Just yesterday I was having this issue of copy pasting texts. Seems very basic but a very poweful tool. Great job on the launch!
Ron Fybish
Great idea love it 🔥
Rousan Ali
Great work.
Shashank Vasisht
A good solution for a simple yet frustrating problem :)
Jason Yang
This is awesome and much needed, thanks for creating!