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The CleanPastedText browser extension

CleanPastedText editorial · Updated

Get the browser extension

The same cleaner, one click away in your toolbar — no tab switching.

  • Clean text in a popup without leaving the tab you're in
  • Or open the side panel and keep it beside your work
  • The same engine as the website — nothing is uploaded
  • Works offline: no account, no network, no setup
Add to Chrome

Free, and it works the moment it installs.

No site access — it cannot read the pages you visit

Popup Side panel

Why an extension and not just the website

Cleaning text is a small task you do many times a day, and the cost is almost never the cleaning itself — it is the interruption. Copy something out of a chat, open a new tab, find the site, paste, copy the result, go back to what you were doing. The extension removes the middle of that: the tool opens on top of whatever you are already looking at, and closes the moment you are done.

Everything else is deliberately identical. The same presets, the same character report with code points and counts, the same guarantee that your words are never rewritten. There is nothing the extension can clean that the website cannot.

Two windows, one tool

Clicking the toolbar icon opens the popup. Chrome limits popups to 600 pixels tall, so this view is tuned for a single pass: paste in, read the cleaned result, hit Copy — all without scrolling. It closes when you click back into the page.

The side panel docks to the edge of the window and stays there. It is resizable and full height, so it shows the whole character report at once and suits working through a long document a paragraph at a time. Open it with the Side panel button in the popup, or by right-clicking the extension icon and choosing Open side panel.

What it asks for, and what it does not

Most extensions ask to “read and change all your data on all websites,” because a content script is the easiest way to build almost anything. This one has no content script, so it asks for no host permissions and Chrome shows no site-access warning at install. It cannot see the tab you are on, your history, or your cookies.

  • clipboardRead — powers the Paste button inside the extension window. Nothing reads your clipboard in the background; Chrome only grants it while you are interacting with the extension.
  • clipboardWrite — powers the Copy button.
  • sidePanel — lets the extension open its own side panel. It grants no access to page content.

You do not have to take any of that on trust. Chrome lists an extension's full permission set on its entry in chrome://extensions, and the absence of site access is visible there before you ever open the tool. Disconnecting from the network and cleaning a passage anyway is the other quick check.

Keeping the web app

Installing the extension changes nothing about the site. The web version stays free, needs no install, and is still the right answer on a machine you do not control, on a phone, or in a browser the extension does not support yet. The two share an engine; use whichever is closer to hand.

Common questions

Frequently asked questions

Can the extension read the pages I visit?

No. The manifest requests no host permissions at all, which is why Chrome installs it without the usual "read and change your data on all websites" warning. It has no content script and no access to any tab. The only permissions it asks for are clipboard read and write — for the Paste and Copy buttons inside its own window — and sidePanel, which lets it open its own panel.

Does my text get uploaded anywhere?

No. The cleaning engine is plain JavaScript bundled inside the extension, and it runs on your machine. There is no server, no API call, and no telemetry about your text. The extension works with your network disconnected, which is the simplest way to confirm it for yourself.

What is the difference between the popup and the side panel?

They run the identical tool; only the window differs. The popup opens over the page when you click the toolbar icon and closes as soon as you click elsewhere, which suits a quick paste-clean-copy. The side panel docks beside the page, stays open while you work, and can be resized and made much taller — better for cleaning several passages in a row. Open it from the Side panel button in the popup, or by right-clicking the extension icon.

Does it work in Edge, Brave, Arc, or Opera?

Yes. Those are all Chromium browsers and install Chrome Web Store extensions directly. Edge also has its own add-ons store, which accepts the same package. Firefox and Safari use different extension formats and are not supported yet — the web app works normally in both.

Is the extension the same as the website?

It is built from the same source. The cleaning engine, the presets, the character-by-character report, and the interface are one shared codebase compiled to two targets, so a fix to the engine reaches both at once. The extension leaves out the parts that only make sense on the web, like these guide pages and the search-engine metadata.

When will it be available?

It is built and submitted, and is waiting on Chrome Web Store review. Review times vary from a few days to a couple of weeks. This page will show an Add to Chrome button the moment the listing goes live — there is nothing to sign up for. In the meantime the web cleaner does everything the extension does.

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