# Is there a way to only copy some text from a web page? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 16, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-only-copy-some-text-from-a-web-page/489609 "2009-03-16T13:20:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-only-copy-some-text-from-a-web-page/489609/1 "2009-03-16T13:20:44Z")
Is there a way to only copy some text from a web page? I mean, copy the text, without the formatting. I am using Firefox. I was just typing an email to a friend, went to Amazon and copied the title of a book and pasted it into my email. It of course, pasted in a large bolded font. I just wanted the words. I opened up notepad and pasted it into there, since it doesn’t support a paste-with-format, and then copied it from there. But that is cumbersome. Is there a key combination I’m not familiar with that will allow me to copy and/or paste just the text? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-only-copy-some-text-from-a-web-page/489609/2 "2009-03-16T13:27:04Z")
Open a Word/WordPerfect document. In Word, go to Edit \> Paste Special \> Unformatted Text. Then copy the text from your Word doc into your email. In WordPerfect, just right-click and hit “Paste Unformatted Text”, and re-copy, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-only-copy-some-text-from-a-web-page/489609/3 "2009-03-16T13:36:03Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Open a Word/WordPerfect document. > > In Word, go to Edit \> Paste Special \> Unformatted Text. Then copy the text from your Word doc into your email. > > In WordPerfect, just right-click and hit “Paste Unformatted Text”, and re-copy, etc. While this method is no less cumbersome than the OP’s original solution, if you use Outlook as your e-mail client with Word as the e-mail editor, you can do the same thing directly into the e-mail. If not, I’m done. I never thought I’d be able to even partially answer a computer question in GQ! ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-only-copy-some-text-from-a-web-page/489609/4 "2009-03-16T13:37:35Z")
There’s also a neat little freeware utility called [PureText](http://www.stevemiller.net/puretext/) that will paste unformatted text in any app. You can choose the key combo to activate it; I use Windows+V (which I think is the default). ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-only-copy-some-text-from-a-web-page/489609/5 "2009-03-16T13:42:44Z")
I love **Scarlett67** ’s solution. I’m gonna get it for myself. Before now, though, I have always used Notepad to accomplish this. I keep a link to Notepad on my Quicklaunch bar and just open up a blank doc, paste into that, then copy/paste from it. ---
**Author:** ![happ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@happ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happ)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-only-copy-some-text-from-a-web-page/489609/6 "2009-03-16T14:31:31Z")
There’s a Firefox plugin, copy plain text, that does that as well. Here’s the link: [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/134](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/134)