AllowCopy User Manual

Installation

Visit the Chrome Web Store, Firefox Add-ons or Edge Add-ons
Click Add to browser and confirm the permissions
Pin the extension icon to your toolbar so you can see the current page's status at a glance

How It Works

Some pages block copying: the text won't select, the copy shortcut does nothing, and the right-click menu never appears. AllowCopy activates copying on the page you're on and gives you back the selecting and copying your browser always had. Once it's active, you select and copy exactly the way you always do.

Each page has one of three states, and the toolbar icon changes to match:

Active — a check mark appears at the bottom right of the icon, and you can select and copy as usual
Inactive — the default; the page stays as it is
Not supported — the icon is grayed out. Browser pages, extension stores, and the PDF viewer don't allow extensions to run

Activating and Disabling

The three methods below do the same thing. They only switch the state and never copy anything, so use whichever comes naturally:

Keyboard shortcut — press the AllowCopy shortcut on the page. The current keys are shown on the Toggle shortcut row of the home page
Right-click menu — right-click the page and choose Activate AllowCopy; once it's active, the item changes to Disable AllowCopy
Sidebar switch — click the AllowCopy icon in the toolbar to open the sidebar, then turn on the switch in the This site card on the home page. The current site's domain appears next to the card title

Some pages block the right-click menu altogether. Use the shortcut there: your browser handles it directly, so the page can't block it.

You can change the shortcut to any combination you like: click the key on the Toggle shortcut row of the home page to open your browser's extension shortcuts page. In Firefox, open about:addons, click the gear icon, and choose Manage Extension Shortcuts.

Copying Text

Once AllowCopy is active, select the text and copy it with your usual shortcut. If the page blocks text selection, that comes back too, so you can just drag across the text to select it.

Press the shortcut again to disable it. The page goes back to how it was, with no need to reload.

Activate on Every Visit

AllowCopy can remember the sites you visit often, so you don't have to activate it every time:

Activate it on the site, then turn on Activate on every visit on the sidebar home page
Your browser asks whether to allow access to the site. Once you allow it, the setting takes effect
From then on, AllowCopy activates automatically whenever you open the site

Disabling it on that site makes AllowCopy forget the site and give up its access to it. You can also remove remembered sites one by one under Features → Remembered sites.

If you sync with your own storage, remembered sites sync to your other devices too. They take effect there once you click Grant access on that device.

Content Embedded From Other Sites

Some pages embed content from other sites, such as code samples or document previews. When your focus is inside that content, AllowCopy asks you to grant access to that site. Once you do, you can copy inside it.

Selection Length

The free version has a length allowance per copy that easily covers everyday quotes and snippets. When a selection goes beyond it, only the opening part is copied and you'll see a notice.

After upgrading to Pro, turn on Long selections in Features to copy long passages and big blocks of code in full, in one go.

Copy History

Copy History on the sidebar home page keeps the text you copied recently. It stays on this device only, and copies made in private windows aren't recorded:

Click an entry's text to show it in full, and click again to collapse it
Hover over an entry to copy it to the clipboard again or delete it
Click the source title to open the original page. Entries marked Partial only had their opening part copied; open the original page to copy them again in full
The number of entries kept and the limit appear next to the title. Click Delete all to clear them in one go

Settings

General

Language — Follow System / English / 简体中文 / 日本語
Theme — Follow System / Light / Dark

Features

Long selections (Pro) — copies long passages in full, in one go. Off by default, so turn it on yourself after upgrading
Confirm each copy on the page — shows a short message on the page after each successful copy. On by default. Incomplete copies are always reported, whatever this is set to
Copy history limit — Off, 1 item (default), or 3, 5, or 10 items (Pro)
Copy as — Plain text (default) or Markdown (Pro). Markdown keeps headings, lists, links, and code blocks, so it's ideal for pasting into notes and docs
Append the source URL — adds the page address after the copied text. Off by default. When copying as Markdown, it's added as a link with the page title
Remembered sites — lists the sites that activate on every visit, and lets you remove them one by one

Storage

Once your own storage is set up, the settings above and your remembered sites sync across your devices. Copy history stays on this device and isn't synced.

FAQ

Nothing happens when I press the shortcut

Check the toolbar icon first: if it's grayed out, the current page isn't supported. Browser pages, extension stores, and the PDF viewer don't allow extensions to run
If Toggle shortcut on the home page shows "Not assigned", or the keys are taken by a system-wide hotkey, pick a different combination on your browser's extension shortcuts page

The switch in the sidebar won't turn on

Sometimes the sidebar can't act on the current page directly. Press the shortcut on the page, or right-click and choose Activate AllowCopy

What I copied is incomplete

The selection went beyond the free version's per-copy allowance. After upgrading to Pro, turn on Long selections in Features to copy it in full

A remembered site doesn't activate automatically on my other device

Site access only applies on the device where it was granted. On that device, click Grant access on the home page or under Remembered sites