Copy as Plain Text

VS Code / Cursor extension that copies selected text as plain text, removing Markdown and HTML markup while preserving line breaks and indentation.

Features

• Markdown → Plain Text: Removes **, __, *, _, headers (#), links ([text](https://github.com/ruvasik/copy-plain-text-plugin/blob/HEAD/url) → text), etc.
• HTML → Plain Text: Strips HTML tags, converts <br>, <p>, <div> to line breaks, <li> to list items
• Preserves Structure: Keeps line breaks, indentation, and code block content
• Auto-detection: Automatically detects content type (HTML, Markdown, or plain text)

Usage

Commands

• Copy as Plain Text - Available in Command Palette (Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + P)

Keyboard Shortcut

• Cmd + Shift + C (macOS)
• Ctrl + Shift + C (Windows/Linux)

Context Menu

Right-click on selected text → "Copy as Plain Text"

Examples

Markdown Input

## Title

- item 1
- item 2

**Bold text** and [link](https://example.com)

Plain Text Output

Title

- item 1
- item 2

Bold text and link

HTML Input

<ul>
  <li>One</li>
  <li>Two</li>
</ul>
<p>Paragraph with <strong>bold</strong> text.</p>

Plain Text Output

- One
- Two

Paragraph with bold text.

Installation

From Marketplace

• VS Code: VS Code Marketplace
• Cursor / Open VSX: Open VSX Registry

Or search for "Copy as Plain Text" in the Extensions panel.

From Source

1. Clone the repository
2. Run npm install
3. Run npm run compile
4. Press F5 to launch Extension Development Host

Build VSIX Package

npm install -g @vscode/vsce
vsce package

Then install the .vsix file via VS Code: Extensions → ... → Install from VSIX

Requirements

• VS Code 1.74.0 or higher
• Cursor (any version based on VS Code 1.74.0+)

License

MIT