Once we have selected the text that we are interested in copying from a website, we only have to use the keyboard shortcut Control + C and Control + V to paste it into the document where we want to keep it. Using this option is the most recommended, since it does not imply the installation of any extension or third-party application.
Disabling JavaScript
The code that prevents copying the text of a web page is a line of javascript. If it is about very long texts, the simplest solution is to disable JavaScript on the web where the text is located in order to eliminate this function. The easiest method to disable JavaScript on a specific web page is to click on the padlock shown at the front of the URL and, in the menu that is displayed, click on Permissions for this site. Next, we go to the JavaScript line and disable them.
Activate reading mode
As a general rule we use our internet browser in a conventional way by typing the website we want to access in the corresponding address bar. At that moment the content appears on the screen so that we can interact in one way or another from the program itself. But as we have mentioned before, sometimes when we try to capture the text that is part of that specific website, it blocks it and does not allow us to extract it in a conventional way.
This is a measure that certain web developers take to protect the content stored in their project. But in order to bypass this limitation that we are discussing in these lines, an interesting option that we have at our fingertips is to activate Reading Mode. The first thing we must take into consideration is that this is a feature that we do not find in all current browsers. However, it is interesting to know that we can use it in some well-known programs with these characteristics such as Google Chrome or Firefox from Mozilla.
The content display mode that we are discussing presents us, once we have launched it, a screen with clean text and without distractions in order to read in a much more comfortable way. But at the same time, in addition to optimizing online content reading tasks, this function often disables the block those textswhich is precisely what we are looking for along these same lines.
This means that if we need to copy certain content in the form of text from a website that blocks it, we just have to activate the reading mode that we are talking about to be able to copy it and paste it into another document. Thus, this is a process that we can repeat with as many web pages as we want and that block their content of this type.
with these extensions
If we take into account that not everyone uses keyboard shortcuts, even for operations as simple as copying text, for users who don’t use them, the easiest solution is to install one of the different extensions that we show you below.
Simple Allow Copy
Thanks to the Simple Allow Copy extension, the protection of certain web pages that prevent copying text disappears completely. The operation of this extension is as simple as clicking on the extension to run it and select the text we want to copy through the right mouse button. This extension works by capturing user interactions, so some web pages may not respond correctly with it.
The code for this extension is available on GitHub, so if we have any doubts about how it works and we know programming, we can access your code to check how it works. This application is available in the Chrome Web Store for Chrome, Edge, Opera and Vivaldi through the following link
I like
Taking full advantage of this extension that we install in the browser is as simple as selecting the text from the web that we want to extract once we have activated it. As we will do it through the right mouse button to indicate to the complement that we want to use it.
I like less
Getting used to using the alternative mouse button for this type of task may be a bit difficult at first than we have been used to for years.
copycat
Thanks to the Copycat extension we can bypass the restriction to establish some web developers to prevent anyone from copying the text displayed on it. The operation of the application is as simple as installing it on the computer, selecting the text and pressing the right mouse button to select the Copycat option.
The extension will take care of copying the text in plain format to the Windows clipboard. From there, we can copy it to any app we want without any problem. We can activate the operation of this extension through a keyboard shortcut, an extension that is available in the Chrome Web Store for Chrome, Edge, Opera and Vivaldi (in addition to other Chromium-based browsers) and for Firefox, from its extensions store. Depending on our browser, we can download this extension through the following links.
Pros
As in the previous case, to take advantage of this unlock function to be able to copy the text of a website, we only have to use the right mouse button to select the desired paragraphs and copy them.
cons
Here we are not going to find more additional functions than the one that interests us in this case, as it happens with other similar extensions.
Enable Copy
Enable Copy is an extension that works in a similar way to the first one, we just have to click on the application to activate it. remove the restrictions that prevent copying the text that we have previously selected. It does not have any configuration option and we can download it through the Chrome Web Store for Chrome, Edge, Opera and Vivaldi through this link.
Top
If something characterizes this extension that we can install in the different Chromium-powered browsers, it is the ease of use that it provides us when it comes to extracting text from pages that block it.
minus top
We will not have configuration parameters that allow us to have greater control over the process of copying or pasting these text fragments.
Convert it to PDF
Another possibility that we have at our disposal is to convert the web page to PDF format, through the printing options. To the convert a web page to PDF format, the web restriction that prevents you from using the Copy function disappears. Once we have converted the web to PDF format, we just have to open it, select the text we want to copy and with the right mouse button copy it or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + c. It is not necessary to resort to third-party extensions to be able to print web pages in PDF, since we can install the native PDF printer available in both Windows 10 and Windows 11, a printer called Microsoft Print to PDF.
With these web pages and a screenshot
Another method that we have at our disposal to copy text from a website that is not allowed is using character recognition through a screenshot the web that does not allow us to physically copy the text to the clipboard. To take a screenshot, Windows offers us different methods. For this specific case, to select only a part of a website where text is displayed, we must select the option Window Crop, which is the third option available when using the keyboard shortcut Shift + Win + s.
converted
Through this web page, we can recognize the text of any web page completely free of charge. uploading a capture from the web where the text that we want to copy is displayed. This website uses the Google platform that allows text recognition, so we can use it with any language, no matter how little spoken it is. This website allows us to recognize the text of up to 10 images for free without the need to register.
The operation of this website is very complete, it is an excellent option, as long as the texts that we want to convert into letters are not too long, since, otherwise, the image has to be very large and the website will not be able to recognize it. correctly. We can access this website through the following . Once the text has been recognized, the web allows us to download a Word file in .docx format with the text of the image.
Free Online OCR
Another interesting website that also allows us to recognize text from screenshots to convert them to plain text is Free Online OCR, a very simple website without any type of limitation that will take care of recognizing the text of any image that we upload in practically any format (.jpeg, .gif, .png, .tiff and even .pdf).
The use of this website to recognize the text of web pages is completely free, it does not require a user account and we can use it without any type of limit. We can access this website and recognize the text of the screenshots of the websites that do not allow us to recognize the text through the following .