Sometimes copying, pasting, and converting text into a simple format can be a tedious process. Get Plain Text ($2.99, Mac App Store) simplifies this process by adding an icon to the task bar for an easy to access utility to unformat any text. There are some editors such as Microsoft Word that let you copy any text, which then lets you choose the option to “Special Paste”. This is similar to the process Get Plain Text uses, but I find it doesn’t always work as well as it does with Get Plain Text. Developed by Alice Dev Team; Get Plain Text removes everything from boldface, colors, italics, fonts, links, images, and more.
Get Plain Text can convert text from any PDF, website, document, email, or any other program that you want the text converted from. Since Get Plain Text launches from the task bar, it’s always there to automatically process any text. As long as the icon is on the launch bar, there isn’t anything else you need to do. However, if you choose not to process any text, you can either uncheck “Automatically clear formatting” or quit the application. Get Plain Text works best with TextEdit, although it also works fine though with Pages or Word.
Get Plain Text saves a lot of time, saving you from having to manually change text by simplifying the style, and removing links, and images, but as for the formatting of paragraphs, it doesn’t change as far as that goes. When you copy and paste something into a text editor with Get Plain Text, of course the text will process, as it should.
If you choose to copy and paste multiple paragraphs, it will do just that, but sometimes you won’t want to process the paragraphs with the text. Unfortunately you have to do this manually, unlike the text, the paragraphs can’t be automatically clear of formatting. You would think that since you would be able to unformat any text, you could unformat the same format of the paragraph you copy. This is not the case, but I’m sure they can add this to Get Plain Text through an update.
Get Plain Text is a great utility and very useful with a wide range of programs. With the ability to process any text style, images, or links; Get Plain Text is a tool, which anyone can benefit from. Furthermore, because it’s so easy to use, you’ll save a lot of time and be more productive by using such a tool as Get Plain Text. The only feature Get Plain Text doesn’t have is the ability to unformat paragraphs, which would be a welcoming addition in a future update. Overall, it does its job, and it does it well in an easy process for any user.
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