ClipStrip

Let me share a little secret: I make a spreadsheet for just about everything, expecially when it is time to take some big or small decision.

However, what appears to be a simple process of aggregating several sources into a file, often transforms into a very slow process, due to the formatting of what I copy from my sources.

See for example this spreadsheet where I tried to select the best sunglasses I could find online:

Font color and dimensions are pasted over from the source websites, and get in the way when you just want the information: every time it is a distraction.

The issue becomes even more frustrating when you are trying to put a document together, see for example these notes I compiled while organizing a trip to Arkansas:

The document quickly becomes a mess of paragraph styles, colored fonts, links and images that in most cases you do not want.

Worse than that, if you forget to do a special paste into plain text every time, overall document styles may be overridden and in the end you will have to wrestle with your word processor to adjust paragraph heights, spacing, margins through the whole document.

At first this may seem a minor annoyance, but constantly having to deal with styles while you work is an immense source of distraction.

Your brain may be seeking an opportunity for distraction while working and it will inevitably notice the bad colors, the different font, the awkward dimensions or even… images!

So if you want to keep yourself focused while using Word, Pages, OneNote, Google Docs and the likes fear not: ClipStrip comes to the rescue!

ClipStrip is a Mac app that constantly watches what you cut or copy from any source.

If what you copied can be converted into plain text the app will strip all formatting and images and make the text-only version available for you to paste, automatically.

This avoids the need to manually fix the formatting once the content has been pasted, or to go in all the times and perform a special paste in text only format.

But the main benefit is that you will not see any bad formatting at all, removing the possibility to break the flow and letting you concentrate on what matters: your document.

Here’s the download link for the free app:

Note that you will have to authorize installation from untrusted sources, as for the time being I decided not to go through the Mac App store and simply see if there is any interest in this kind of utility software via this website.

If you used the application and want to support it, or request any improvement or a new feature I leave here below a paypal link for your support.

You can also support by leaving useful feedback in the comments below.

Also, the software is an opportunity to use AI to further process your text automatically. What would you do with it? I’d love implementing any useful idea with this concept.