Why Chrome pastes formatting you did not ask for
Every time you copy in Chrome, the browser places two versions of your selection on the clipboard: the plain text and the full HTML fragment. Most paste targets read the HTML version first — so you get the page's fonts, colors, line heights, smart quotes and hidden tracking markup along with the text you wanted.
The fix is either to tell the paste target to ignore formatting (hitting a different shortcut every time) or to change what goes on the clipboard before the paste happens.
Six methods, ranked by convenience
1️⃣ Ctrl+Shift+V / Cmd+Shift+V
Paste as plain text. Works in most apps — but you have to remember to use it every single time. Great as a fallback, poor as a habit (most people forget and paste the formatted version).
On Mac, Cmd+Shift+Option+V also works in some apps like Word and Gmail.
2️⃣ Paste Special dialog
Ctrl+Alt+V opens a dialog asking whether you want plain text, HTML, or rich text. Useful for document work, impractical for quick pastes 50 times a day.
3️⃣ Browser extension: Clean Copy
Clean Copy works at copy time, not paste time. Select text, invoke Clean Copy (right-click or Ctrl+Shift+C), and the clipboard gets clean text or Markdown. No special paste command needed in any app. Runs locally, no tracking, free and open source. Not on Chrome? The bookmarklet gives you the same one-click clean copy in any browser.
4️⃣ PureText (Windows) / PlainPaste (Mac)
System tray utilities that paste pre-stripped text. They assign a global hotkey (e.g. Win+V) that overwrites what is on the clipboard with just the plain text version, then pastes. One extra click per paste.
5️⃣ Clipboard managers
Ditto (Windows), Maccy (Mac), or Pastebot store clipboard history and can strip formatting. Press Ctrl+Shift+V to paste history, or click a hotkey. The formatting setting is per-app and per-use.
6️⃣ AutoHotkey / Keyboard Maestro macros
Power users can write a script that remaps Ctrl+V to "strip formatting, then paste". It works system-wide but requires setup, maintenance after OS updates, and a scripting tool (AutoHotkey on Windows, Keyboard Maestro on Mac).
The recommended approach: Clean Copy extension
Shortcuts and clipboard managers require you to change your paste behavior — use a different shortcut, open a panel, think about formatting on every paste. Clean Copy changes your copy behavior instead: you select text, activate it once, and every paste afterwards — anywhere — is clean.
How it works in practice:
- You find an article on the web with text you want.
- Select the text, right-click → Clean Copy → Markdown (or press Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+C).
- Switch to your email, Notion doc, Obsidian note, or AI chat.
- Press Ctrl+V (or Cmd+V). Normal paste. It arrives clean.
Zero shortcuts to remember, zero formatting to strip, zero apps to configure.
Frequently asked questions
How do I paste without formatting in Chrome on Windows?
Press Ctrl+Shift+V to paste as plain text. To avoid needing to use a special shortcut, install Clean Copy so copying always produces clean text.
Can I set Chrome to always paste as plain text?
Chrome has no built-in option for this. The closest workaround is to use a copy-time extension (like Clean Copy) that strips formatting before it reaches your clipboard, so every paste command delivers clean text.
Does Clean Copy work in Edge and Brave?
Yes — Clean Copy works in any Chromium browser. Load it unpacked from the same zip. Edge uses edge://extensions; Brave uses brave://extensions. Identical process.
Related: Copy ChatGPT into Word · HTML to Markdown converter
Free e-book: Build Your First Chrome Extension
The complete guide is available as a free EPUB — no signup required.
Get the free e-book →Want all six guides? Complete EU Compliance Bundle — combined PDF + all EPUBs, $29.
Keeping websites online? DeskUptime is a free desktop uptime & SSL-expiry monitor for macOS, Linux and Windows.