# Web form can detect copy & paste characters? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 27, 2014, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-form-can-detect-copy-paste-characters/708263 "2014-12-27T04:16:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-form-can-detect-copy-paste-characters/708263/21 "2014-12-29T15:47:47Z")
> [@Snerky\_Snerk](#): > > Our university message board somehow adds a string of info if we paste text into the message box. It only shows up if you look at the message board in preview mode though - I can’t get it to appear before posting (as I would like to be able to edit it out), nor does it appear if accessing the board directly through the normal view. > > If I cut from Word, it adds a string that looks like - Docxxx 01xxx Engxxx 0102 xxx (etc…lots of numbers and x’s). Next semester, I should try a cut and paste from Notepad to see if that does it as well. > > So, yes, from my experience, there is at least one webform that can catch hidden data that will show that the text has been pasted from Word. Interesting. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-form-can-detect-copy-paste-characters/708263/22 "2014-12-29T20:51:50Z")
When you cut/copy content from almost any program more sophisticated than Notepad, it actually gets stored on the clipboard in several formats. One is the program’s native format, one is the plainest of plain text, and there may be intermediate formats as well. And when you paste, Windows offers all those versions of the content up to the accepting program. It decides which version to accept and transfer into itself. The fancier formats are how you can copy/paste a table or something with embedded bold & italics from one doc to another. Or copy/paste a hunk of spreadsheet with formulas and such into another spreadsheet. Or copy/paste a picture. The typical dumb browser textbox can only accept the plain text. Fancier ones can accept the fully formatted text. Intermediate ones may accept the fancier formatted text then garble part of the magic so it appears as gibberish. Or explicitly tattle on the fact they saw & handled the fancier formatting. Bottom Line: Nothing mysterious here; just one more feature of Windows that usually sits there in plain sight but just below the typical users’ level of notice. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-form-can-detect-copy-paste-characters/708263/23 "2014-12-29T20:56:22Z")
nevermind ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-form-can-detect-copy-paste-characters/708263/24 "2014-12-29T21:16:45Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > When you cut/copy content from almost any program more sophisticated than Notepad, it actually gets stored on the clipboard in several formats. One is the program’s native format, one is the plainest of plain text, and there may be intermediate formats as well. > > And when you paste, Windows offers all those versions of the content up to the accepting program. It decides which version to accept and transfer into itself. > > The fancier formats are how you can copy/paste a table or something with embedded bold & italics from one doc to another. Or copy/paste a hunk of spreadsheet with formulas and such into another spreadsheet. Or copy/paste a picture. > > The typical dumb browser textbox can only accept the plain text. Fancier ones can accept the fully formatted text. Intermediate ones may accept the fancier formatted text then garble part of the magic so it appears as gibberish. Or explicitly tattle on the fact they saw & handled the fancier formatting. > Bottom Line: Nothing mysterious here; just one more feature of Windows that usually sits there in plain sight but just below the typical users’ level of notice. But, does that enable them to know that the text was copy/pasted? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-form-can-detect-copy-paste-characters/708263/25 "2014-12-30T03:15:07Z")
If by “them” you mean the website owners, then perhaps the purpose of the behavior of the textbox is to enable them to detect copy/paste from Word. Or perhaps it’s a bug and they have no idea how this gibberish keeps getting into people’s submissions. The only people who can tell you for sure how they use the submissions are the people who actually use the submissions. Note that copy/paste from different word processors (or any other source app) may well inject different tattletale/buggy info into the submitted data. So even if they’re actively looking for tattletale info you might be able to fool them by using a different word processor that provides tattletales the auditing app (or auditing person) doesn’t recognize as such. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-form-can-detect-copy-paste-characters/708263.md?page=1)