Selecting and copying texts from web pages to save or use later is a widespread practice on the Internet. Although most users do not do so thinking about duplicating content or obtaining some type of benefit without authorization, some websites have taken measures in this regard, applying blocks. How to copy and paste text on protected websites? This is what we are going to see in this post.
We will know that we are on one of these pages that use this type of protection systems when, when trying to select a text, an alert appears. A message that warns us that this content is blocked or protected by copyright. Therefore, it cannot be used without authorization.
There is some ways to bypass those blocks, applications and extensions, which we will present below. All of these methods are completely legal, since the act of copying and pasting a text is not always done with a commercial objective. That is to say, the responsibility is not in the means, but in the end that can be given.
In any case, from Windows News we remember that the reproduction of content protected by Copyright It is a crime and we in no way encourage anyone to do it. We must also remind those who copy texts from other websites to use them on their own, that the duplicate content It is heavily penalized by Google.
With this point clarified, let's see what the most effective methods are for copying and pasting texts from web pages that use some type of restriction or blocking:
Use the shortcut Ctrl + C
Incredible as it may seem, many protected websites only prevent us from copying the text when we try to select and copy it with the right mouse button. On the other hand, they do not offer any resistance if we execute the same action with the keyboard, through the well-known key shortcut Ctrl + C. That's why it's worth trying this in the first place.
If no notification or warning appears when doing this, it is most likely that the text has been copied successfully. But before claiming victory, we must check that we will be able to paste it wherever we want with the shortcut Crtl+V. Sometimes we come across the unpleasant surprise that the text does not stick. It is another form of protection for these websites.
Activate reading mode
A good method to copy and paste text from protected websites is activate reading mode. In this way, Google Chrome gives you a clean and distraction-free display of the text on a web page. This is how you can access it:
- First, paste the following link into the browser bar: chrome://flags/#enable-reader-mode
- Then we press the button «Reading mode» (Reading Mode).
- If it is deactivated, we open the drop-down menu and select "Activate" (Enable).
What do you get with this? By activating this mode, The locking function is automatically deactivated of text, so we will be able to copy the content of the website without problems.
Disable JavaScript
This is a solution that works with those pages where when we press the right mouse button we do not get any response. The options menu with the “Copy” option does not appear. Therefore, the page seems armored.
To jump over this barrier we only have to disable javascript. These are the steps to follow:
- First we use the key combination Ctrl + Shift + I to open DevTools.
- Then we press Ctrl + Shift + P to access the command.
- There we write "javascript" and, in the options that appear, we select "Disable JavaScript."
The method works, but has some risks. It is very likely that by doing so the page will "break down" and it will be difficult to move around it or use all its functionalities.
Print the website in PDF
It is another trick that we can use to copy and paste text from protected websites. Consists in directly print the page in question in PDF. The way to do it is quite similar in all browsers. In the case of Chrome, the process is very simple: you have to go to the three dots icon in the upper right corner of the browser, choose the "Print" option and, when the print box opens, change the name of the printer at your option «Print in PDF».
Afterwards, you just have to open this PDF document with the program you have installed and select the text you want. As you can see, it is an indirect method, but it can be useful in the case of protected pages.
Review the source code
This is a somewhat more complex procedure, but effective. The key to this method is reviewing the source code of a website to access its entire HTML structure. With this, the text is freed so we can copy and paste it. It is done like this:
- We go to the web page where the content we want to copy is.
- In the browser bar, we write view-source: just before the page URL.
- The view that will appear is that of the HTML structure of the page. There we can search for the text we want to copy.
Install extensions
Finally, we will mention one of the simplest and most used resources to copy texts on websites that have some type of protection against copy-paste: Chrome browser extensions specifically designed for this purpose.
They all work in a very similar way. We can download them for free in our browser from Chrome Web Store and, when we find a website with protected text content, click on the button next to the bar so that the text is released.
The video above explains (in English) how to use Reader View to perform this operation. It is very quick and easy.
Now that we have seen all the available methods, in summary, we can affirm the following: there are various ways to copy and paste texts from protected web pages. However, we must be aware that misuse of these copied texts can cause problems. If we use the texts for private purposes, that's fine.