How to Automatically Copy Selected Text in Chrome, Edge, and Firefox
Reading Time: 3 minutesIf you’re frequently copying text from your browser (as most of us do), here are extensions you can use to automate and speed up the process.
Many users need to copy and paste URLs, email addresses, script code, and other details on webpages now and then while web browsing. The usual way to copy text is to select it and press Ctrl + C. No browsers include options for enabling automatic copying of text.
However, some Chrome, Edge, and Firefox extensions enable users to automatically copy text by simply selecting it without pressing Ctrl + C. This is how you can automatically copy text in Chrome, Edge, and Firefox with two different extensions.
How to Automatically Copy Selected Text With Auto Copy
Auto Copy is an extension you can add to Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge (and possibly other Chromium-based browsers). It eliminates the need to press Ctrl + C and includes additional features for copying and pasting text. You can install Auto Copy by clicking the Add to Chrome or Get buttons on the Chrome/Edge pages linked below.
To automatically copy the text on a page after installing the extension, open a new webpage in your browser. Select a passage of text on the page by dragging the cursor over it as you would usually. Then you’ll notice a small Auto Copied notification box at the bottom right of your browser, which confirms the copying of the text.
Now open Notepad, or a word processor, to paste in the content. Pressing the Ctrl + V hotkey will paste in whatever text you selected to automatically copy in Chrome or Edge.
If you have enabled clipboard history in Windows 11/10, you can also view copied items there by pressing the Windows + V key combo. Our guide for using the Clipboard Manager in Windows includes further info for enabling that feature.
To explore Auto Copy’s other features, check out that extension’s settings tab. You can view that tab in Chrome by pressing the Extensions (jigsaw piece) button and clicking Auto Copy’s More actions menu. Then select Options to view the Auto Copy: Options tab.
Selecting Copy without formatting enables one of Auto Copy’s most useful features. It’s a feature to strip text formatting for copying and pasting from your browser. That feature will save you from having to manually remove text formatting after pasting in word processors.
You can also select for your copied text to include additional source info, which is another interesting feature. Click the Include an informational comment checkbox to enable that feature. The pasted text will then include extra ‘Copied from…’ info that cites the website and URL from which you copied the content.
The Paste on middle click option enables middle-click paste functionality for copied content. Pressing the middle mouse button (scroll wheel) will paste copied content into website text boxes open in your browser. However, that feature won’t work for software outside the browser you added Auto Copy.
Selecting the Press Ctrl key while selecting to disable Auto Copy option activates a hotkey for temporarily disabling the extension’s automatic copying. By default, that key is set to Ctrl. Holding Ctrl while selecting text will disable automatic copying with that setting selected. However, you can choose alternative Shift and Alt key combinations on that setting’s drop-down menu.
Download: Auto Copy for Google Chrome | Edge (Free)
How to Automatically Copy Selected Text With Copy on Select
Auto Copy isn’t available for Firefox, but Copy on Select is a similar, albeit more basic, extension you can add to Mozilla’s flagship browser. However, this add-on has zero additional options and features. Select the Add to Firefox option on the Copy to Select download page to try out this extension.
Copy on Select works much the same as Auto Copy. Open a webpage, and select some text to copy on it with your mouse’s cursor. Unlike Auto Copy, this add-on doesn’t have any alert on copy notifications.
Then open some software to paste in the content. You can select the Paste options within many software packages, or press the universal Ctrl + V hotkey to insert the text from the clipboard.
Download: Copy on Select for Firefox (Free)
Copy Text in Chrome, Edge, and Firefox Without Pressing Ctrl + C
Now you can instantly copy the text on webpages with the Auto Copy and Copy to Select browser extensions. Those extensions provide a more convenient, automatic way to copy to the clipboard. Auto Copy’s options for copying plain text, adding source info, and middle-mouse button pasting are also useful extra features.
Reference: https://www.makeuseof.com/automatically-copy-chrome-edge-firefox-text/