A major copy and paste shake-up is on the way for some Windows users that may have them breathing a major sigh of relief.
The company has announced that it will be bringing the “paste as plain text” option to Windows 11 and Windows 10 apps with PowerToys, giving users of the open source platform a much smoother experience when copying information over.
Previously, PowerToys users were slightly hampered by the lack of a full paste function, which would allow users to simply copy text as it is, without retaining any formatting such as size, color or other differences.
PowerToys copy and paste
The update was discovered in a Github post (opens in new tab), where the developers responsible outlined how the feature, triggered by the familiar Ctrl+Win+V key presses (although users will be able to tweak and create their own custom shortcut), will work in any app where PowerToys works.
“This is heavily based on the work done for the “Text Extractor” module then ripping out anything that may be unnecessary. The same KeyboardMonitor is implemented and used,” the developers stated.
“The interesting logic really falls inside the KeyboardMonitor as that is where the clipboard is opened/read/modified, then a ctrl+v input sequence is injected.”
There’s no news on when the Paste as Plain Text tool will start rolling out, but given how many PowerToys users have requested it, the launch could well start soon.
PowerToys is an open source suite of tools for advanced Windows users, designed to help bypass certain settings and perform actions that are unavailable by default. It also offers a wider range of customization options.
Since its relaunch in 2019, Microsoft has regularly serviced PowerToys with new tools and features, a pattern extended with the latest release.
A further PowerToys update earlier in 2022 also included several useful additions, including an “Always on Top” utility that allows users to toggle a window in focus to be on top with a quick press of Win + Ctrl + T. Microsoft also changed the hotkey to mute your webcam and microphone from Win + N to Win + Shift + Q to avoid conflict with an existing Windows 11 keyboard shortcut.
The latest version of PowerToys is available via both the Microsoft Store (opens in new tab) and the GitHub page (opens in new tab).
Via: Neowin (opens in new tab)
