Many websites work hard to protect themselves and their content by blocking attempts to simply highlight, right-click, and copy all their text. But if you want to copy text from a blocked site in Chrome for non-plagiarism or copyright infringement reasons, there are several workarounds.
After all, sometimes you just really like what you’ve read and want to keep if for future reference, or maybe you want to keep it to read offline.
Also read: 5 of the Best Solutions for Monitoring Website Changes
Copying from the Page Source
The source code behind the webpage includes the text on the webpage. You’ll have to copy and paste just the portions you want and delete the HTML and CSS tags.
Depending on how the site owner has their site set up, this method may or may not work. Some sites disable right-click completely, while others only disable the copy option.
To copy text from a blocked site in Chrome, open Chrome and the website or page you want to copy from.
Right-click on the webpage to reveal a drop-down menu of options. Do not highlight any text first. Select “View Page Source” or “Inspect.” The latter option takes you directly to the specific area in the source code.
A new portion of the webpage will be revealed, which carries the source code of the webpage. This is the code that carries every piece of information available on the page in HTML language, which your browser translates into the page that is visible on your device.
Use the shortcut Ctrl + F to reveal a search bar. Type in the first few words of the portion of the text you wish to copy. This will highlight the part of the source page which carries the raw text you’re looking for, enclosed within various types of coding brackets.
Select the portion of the text you wish to copy, right-click with your mouse and tap on the “Copy” option.
You can then paste the text anywhere you want it. If there are any special codes or formatting, you’ll have to remove those yourself after pasting the text.
Also read: How to Use Wget to Download Websites to Your PC
Disabling Javascript
Site owners often use JavaScript to block anyone from copying their content. To copy text from a blocked site in Chrome, disable JavaScript on the site. When Chrome tries to load the page, any JavaScript commands are disabled as well, allowing you to copy the text.
Open Chrome and go to the top-right corner. Click on the three dots, and from the drop-down menu that appears, select the “Settings” option.
Click on “Privacy and Security,” and scroll down until you see “Site Settings” and tap on it. If you don’t see Privacy and Security, click Advanced to expand additional options. Older versions of Chrome list this option under the Advanced settings.
In the section that opens up, locate and turn off the JavaScript option for your browser.
Restart your browser and go to the website to copy the text. Make sure to turn JavaScript back on after you’re done copying, since certain sites may not work correctly without it.
If you want to regularly copy text from a blocked site in Chrome, you can turn off JavaScript just for that site. Right-click to the left of the URL to view site-specific options. Choose “Site Settings.”
Scroll until you see JavaScript and set it to Blocked.
This only blocks JavaScript for one site and not all websites.
Also read: How to Copy and Paste on Sites that Won’t Let You
Take a Screenshot
If you are unable to directly copy the content, you can still take a picture of the webpage using the Screen Capture extension. Once you install this extension, a camera icon will appear next to the address bar on your Chrome browser. Tap on this icon to take a screenshot of the entire webpage.
You can then save it as either a JPG, PNG or PDF file on your device.
If you don’t want to install an extension, simply press the Print Screen or PrtSc button on your keyboard. You can paste this into any image editor or word processing app that supports images. Some site owners do block this option, though.
For longer webpages, you can capture scrolling screenshots as well in Windows.
Print Option
Use Ctrl + P to bring up the “Print Page” screen and choose the “Save page as PDF” option to save the image of the webpage on your device.
Install an Extension
Another option to copy text from a blocked site in Chrome is to install an extension. These extensions block the command from the website, allowing you to freely copy the text as normal.
One of the more popular options is Simple Allow Copy. Once installed, open the webpage in question, click the Simple Allow Copy icon to the right of the URL and start copying. Enable Copy works similarly. Both are easy to install and use.
Also read: 6 of the Best Google Chrome Extensions to Annotate Text on the Web
Conclusion
As websites fight harder to protect their content from online theft, it is the end user who suffers when they are unable to copy even a name or an address from a webpage. With the help of the above methods, you can circumvent the problem of sites blocking their written content.
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