Use the richest trustworthy clipboard representation
A copied selection can have several representations. The W3C Clipboard API specification uses a spreadsheet example that may be available as HTML, plain text, an image or a custom format, each carrying a different level of fidelity. Rich text works the same way: text/html can retain headings, lists, links and tables that text/plain cannot describe on its own.
Pasteful reads the available clipboard data and converts useful semantic structure rather than copying the source's fonts, colours and page chrome. The plain representation remains a fallback when the source app exposes no safe rich content.
W3C: Clipboard API and multiple representations · Open rich text to Markdown
Copy only the content you want
Select the article, note or document body without menus, comments, cookie notices or unrelated sidebars. A converter cannot always distinguish a meaningful callout from nearby interface text once both are inside the copied HTML.
Paste into Pasteful and check the preview first. Remove navigation fragments, repeated titles and decorative labels before downloading. For a large document, convert one representative section first so you can settle heading levels, list indentation and link treatment before processing the rest.
Check the Markdown, not just the preview
CommonMark defines blocks such as headings, paragraphs, quotations, lists and code blocks, plus inline structures such as links and emphasis. Switch to Text and inspect the syntax that represents them. A correct-looking preview can still hide a wrong link destination, skipped heading level or list item nested by the wrong number of spaces.
Look specifically for blank lines around blocks, fence markers around code, balanced link brackets and meaningful link text. Keep raw HTML only when the target Markdown system permits it and the document genuinely needs it.
- Heading levels reflect the document hierarchy
- Nested lists use consistent indentation
- Links retain the intended destination
- Code fences do not absorb surrounding prose
- Quotes remain distinct from ordinary paragraphs
Handle the structures Markdown cannot carry alone
Images need files or stable URLs as well as Markdown syntax; copying a rendered image does not automatically create a portable asset. Visual callouts, multi-column layouts, tracked changes, comments and complex tables may need a deliberate text fallback. Footnotes, task lists and tables also vary between Markdown flavours, so check the renderer used by the destination.
Relative links deserve special attention. A link that worked inside the source site may break when the .md file moves to a repository or notes app. Replace it with the correct absolute or repository-relative destination before publishing.
Download and verify the file
Download the UTF-8 .md file, open it in the editor or notes app where it will live, and compare the rendered result with the source. Check the deepest list, every image, one code block and all links. Keep the original until that review is complete.
The conversion runs in the browser tab, but the destination app may sync the file after you open or save it there. Pasteful's privacy boundary covers the formatting step, not the storage policy of the repository, notes service or publishing system you choose next.
Read the Markdown export guide · Review Pasteful's privacy model
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