How to Copy Webpage Text When Right-Clicking Is Disabled
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Have you ever tried highlighting text on a webpage to copy, only for nothing to happen? You’ll probably think something is wrong with the webpage or your cursor/touchpad. When in reality, it is the webpage itself stopping you.
Yes, some webpages can stop you from copying their text. As annoying as that can be, there are ways you may get around this. Here, we will explore five ways to copy webpage text when right-clicking is not an option.
Why Won’t a Webpage Let You Right-Click Text?
There are many reasons why specific webpages prevent users from copying their text. The short answer is content theft. By doing so, the website can protect its content. You can also experience this when trying tosave images when right-clicking isn’t allowed.
Certain websites can and will stop you from copying their text to discourage others from taking their work and possibly passing it off as theirs. Don’t be that person. Websites can use CSS or JavaScript todisable functions, such as copy and paste and right-clicking.
But content theft wouldn’t be the only reason to block text copying. Some websites believe that disabling the right-click function can improve the user experience, such as stopping users from accidentally clicking links or buttons.
Despite that, it may not be beneficial. In this case, you are trying to copy text, but the website won’t allow you. Luckily, there are ways to bypass this. Here are five ways:
1. Source Code
This method is best for those with basic knowledge of HTML, the code used to create webpages. This method may leave those unfamiliar with HTML stumped.
you could view the source code by right-clicking on the webpage and clickingView page sourcefrom the context menu or pressingCtrl + U. A new tab will open with the webpage’s HTML code.
Plain text will appear in black or white, depending on the theme of your browser. Scroll down until you find the text you want to copy or pressCtrl + Ffor a quicker search. There, it’s possible to click and highlight the text and copy it.
Alternatively, you’re able to copy all the HTML code and convert it to text using a conversion site such asWord to HTML. Copy all the code and paste it into the HTML tab. TheCleanbutton removes unnecessary code. The Word tab shows all the webpage’s content for you to copy.
2. Inspect Element
You can use the Developer Tools to copy the text, showing the sidebar with the code on the right side and the webpage on the left. To do this, right-click anywhere on the webpage and clickInspectfrom the context menu.
The developer tools should open in theElementssection. If not, click on it from the toolbar at the top. Instead of scrolling, it’s possible to pressCtrl + Fand start typing the text, which will appear in the code for you to copy.
You can use the left icon in the top toolbar or pressCtrl + Shift + C, which allows you to click on an element on the webpage to reveal its location in theElementscode. If not, click on the left arrow in the code to show the text. Now, you can copy the text.
3. Disable JavaScript
You can enable the copy function on a website by disabling JavaScript. This method will impact the website’s ability to load images and embeds as websites depend on JavaScript. So, ensure you enable JavaScript when you copy the text you want.
To disable JavaScript in Google Chrome, click on theEllipsis(three vertical dots) in the top-right corner and clickSettingsfrom the context menu. Next, click onPrivacy and securityfrom the left-hand tab and click on theSite settingssection.
Scroll down to the bottom and click onJavaScriptfrom theContentsection. In theCustomised behaviorssection, you can add the link to the website by clicking theAddbutton and pasting the URL into the textbox.
Now, go back to the webpage and reload it to allow the JavaScript disabling to take effect. You should now be able to copy the text. Remember to enable JavaScript by returning toSettings, clicking the three vertical dots, and clickingRemove.
4. Browser Extension
There are many browser extensions available on theChrome Web Storethat allow you to enable right-clicking:
5. Screenshot to Text
it’s possible to use the snipping tool usingWin + Shift + Son Windows or⌘ + Shift + 4on Mac to take a screenshot. Windows has four snipping options, Mac has five options.
Don’t capture unnecessary text; focus solely on what you want. Once you have drawn a shape around the text, the screenshot will automatically download to your device.
To convert a screenshot to text, visit an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) website. For this example, we will useocr2edit. Here, click on theImage to texttool. Then, drag or choose the screenshot and clickStartto begin the conversion.
Once the image is processed, it will automatically download to your device as a text file. If not, manually clickDownload. When you open the text file, the text from the screenshot can now be copied or edited.
Alternative Ways to Copy Text
One method, if not all, will help you copy text without right-clicking. Despite its ease, it’s noteworthy that you respect copyright laws and the original author by not stealing their work. These methods will undoubtedly give you new computer skills and prove that there is a solution to everything.
Can’t highlight and right-click text? Well, now you know how. So, now that you have found a way to copy text from websites that stop you from right-clicking and copying, have you ever tried to copy the URLs of all your open tabs?
If you’ve got multiple tabs open in Chrome, there’s a more efficient way to copy all the URLs. Here’s how you can do so.
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