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Show HN: I built a clipboard tool to strip/keep specific formatting like Italics

https://custompaste.com
15•EvaWorld9•3h ago
Hello HN,

I’m Joseph, a solo developer. I built CustomPaste because I was frustrated by the binary choice standard clipboard tools give us: either keep all the messy formatting (background colors, huge fonts) or strip everything down to plain text.

We all know Ctrl+Shift+V (paste as plain text), but that is often too destructive, it kills hyperlinks, bolding, and lists when I usually just want to normalize the font family (e.g., force Arial 11pt) or remove background colors.

I wanted a tool that let me "strip exactly what I want, and keep exactly what I want."

The Solution: Instead of a single "paste" behavior, the app lets you create reusable "Recipes" to define exactly how your text should land in your editor. It intercepts the clipboard, processes the structure locally, and transforms it based on your rules.

It offers granular control over:

    Smart Preservation: You can strip or set specific font families and sizes but specifically preserve bold, italics, and hyperlinks.
Structure: You can preserve tables while stripping the images inside them.

Data Cleanup: It can instantly purge duplicate lines, sort lists alphabetically, or flatten extra blank lines.

Text Fixes: It cleans up AI-generated artifacts (like "smart quotes" or em-dashes) and enforces casing (Title Case, Sentence Case).

Privacy & Pricing: The app runs 100% locally on your machine, no cloud processing and no data harvesting. It is a one-time purchase (lifetime license), not a subscription. There is a free trial (first 100 pastes) so you can test if it fits your workflow.

I’d love to hear your feedback on the "Recipe" approach or any other edge cases you struggle with when pasting text!

Comments

benheildev•2h ago
Love the idea, would be very interested in a version for MacOS
EvaWorld9•2h ago
Thanks! Right now it's Windows only because it hooks deep into the system to handle the formatting and transformation properly, which is totally different on Mac.

However, a macOS version is the #1 request I get. It is definitely on the roadmap! If you want, you can drop your email in the form at the very bottom of the site (under "Don't Miss What's Next") and I'll notify you specifically when the MacOS version is ready.

frizlab•1h ago
Nitpick: It’s macOS, lowercase m.
barishnamazov•2h ago
I appreciate the polish for non-technical folks, but "clipboard formatter" feels like a feature, not a product. All of this can be done with AutoHotKey script for Windows and similar open-source tools for the other OS. And given how sensitive is clipboard data (passwords, keys, etc.) using a third-party app feels a bit uncomfortable.
EvaWorld9•1h ago
You're absolutely right that you can script this if you have the know-how. I used AHK for years before building this.

But the main goal here is to offer that power to people who don't have the time or desire to learn scripting syntax, set up environments or debug code. They just want a tool that works out of the box. And even for technical folks, maintaining a script that parses complex HTML/RTF without breaking on nested tags (which often happens with Regex) is a headache I wanted to solve permanently.

Regarding privacy, that was actually my top priority when designing the architecture. I'm fully aware of how sensitive clipboard data is, which is why I built it to run 100% locally. You can literally block the app in your firewall or physically disconnect your internet and it works perfectly, I even built an offline license activation method specifically for high-security environments.

frizlab•1h ago
> AI-generated artifacts (like "smart quotes" or em-dashes)

I write from the keyboard using “smart quotes…” It’s so much more beautiful.

EvaWorld9•1h ago
Totally agree for prose. The headache is that AI often generates code with those smart quotes, which causes immediate syntax errors in compilers.

That’s why I made it a toggleable rule: keep them for writing, but swap them automatically when you need valid code.

thrownato•56m ago
Smart quotes should work like ligatures rather than being special characters.

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