As a developer or professional, have you ever faced these frustrating moments?
Copying code from GitHub to VS Code, only to find indentation completely messed up—wasting 5 minutes on manual adjustments;
Pasting an Excel table into Notion, losing column widths, cell colors, and spending another 30 minutes reformatting;
Copying technical docs from a webpage to Word, where fonts and line spacing get distorted into a "formatting disaster."
Over the past six months, my team and I wasted too much time on these issues—so we built a Format-Preserving Copy Plugin. It solves every formatting pain point with one click, from "retaining syntax highlighting for code" to "lossless cross-tool document migration." Today, I want to share its use cases, core features, and the technical logic behind it (with simplified code included).
I. 3 Core Use Cases: Solve Your Daily Formatting Headaches
Let’s cut to the chase—here’s how much time it saves you, with side-by-side comparisons of manual work vs. plugin use:
Use Case 1: Code Copying – Retain Syntax Highlighting & Indentation
Pain Point: Copying Python/JS code from Stack Overflow/GitHub to your local IDE often breaks syntax highlighting, resets indentation to 2 spaces (when you prefer 4), or messes up comment formats.
Plugin Workflow:
After installation, click the "Format Copy" icon in your browser toolbar (or use the shortcut Ctrl+Shift+C);
Select a code block from a GitHub repo (e.g., a React component);
Paste directly into VS Code—it automatically preserves:
Syntax highlighting (supports 15+ programming languages: Python, JS, Java, Go, etc.);
Custom indentation (the plugin reads your IDE’s indentation settings and adapts automatically);
Comment formats (no more lost // single-line comments or /* multi-line comments */).
Efficiency Comparison: Manual adjustment → 5 mins per use; Plugin → 10 secs per use. Save 30 minutes daily for actual coding.
Use Case 2: Office Docs – Lossless Cross-Tool Format Migration
Pain Point: Pasting Excel data into Notion databases or Word reports into Slack always breaks formatting—compressed column widths, font changes (from "Microsoft YaHei" to "SimSun"), and missing table borders.
Plugin Workflow (Take "Excel → Notion" as an example):
Use the plugin to select a data table in Excel (including formulas and color-coded cells);
Paste into Notion—it retains:
Cell colors (e.g., red alert rows, green completed rows);
Formula 关联性 (basic formulas remain functional in Notion after pasting);
Table structure (column width ratios match Excel—no more manual dragging).
Supported Tools: Currently compatible with 6 popular tools (Word, Excel, PDF, Web Pages, Notion, Trello). Figma/Sketch support for design docs is coming soon (see Roadmap at the end).
Use Case 3: Technical Docs – Keep "Critical Info" When Copying
Pain Point: Copying API explanations from MDN to your dev notes turns hyperlinks, code blocks, and lists into plain text—forcing you to re-add Markdown syntax manually.
Plugin Workflow:
Use the plugin to select an MDN section (e.g., the "fetch API" docs, including hyperlinks, code examples, and ordered lists);
Paste into note-taking tools like Typora/Logseq—it auto-generates:
Clickable hyperlinks (e.g., "Request Interface");
copywithformat.com
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