How to Copy Text from ChatGPT Without the Gray Background (Step-by-Step)

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 A futuristic laptop screen showing messy text with gray background highlights being scanned by a digital eye icon.

If you use ChatGPT to write essays, emails, or reports, you've definitely faced this annoying problem: You copy the AI's response, paste it into Microsoft Word or Google Docs, and—boom!—the text appears with a weird, ugly gray background highlight.

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The Struggle: Trying to manually remove the background color, changing fonts, or "clearing formatting" takes more time than writing the prompt itself. It makes your document look unprofessional and messy.

In this quick guide from TechEye, we will show you the "hidden" shortcut and the best methods to get clean, plain text from any AI tool (ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini) instantly.

Method 1: The "Pro" Keyboard Shortcut (Fastest)

Most users use Ctrl + V to paste. This shortcut tells your computer to copy everything—including the gray CSS styles from the ChatGPT website.

To paste only the text, use this instead:

The "No-Background" Shortcut:

Ctrl + Shift + V

(On Mac: Cmd + Option + Shift + V)

This command is called "Paste as Plain Text." It strips away the gray background, the font size, and the bold text, making it match your document's current style perfectly.

Method 2: Use the Official "Copy" Button

Don't highlight the text with your mouse. ChatGPT has an official "Copy" icon at the bottom of every response (it looks like two overlapping squares).

✓ Why it works: Clicking this button copies the text to your clipboard using "Markdown" logic, which sometimes behaves better with external editors than manual highlighting.

Method 3: The "Address Bar" Trick (The Hack)

If you are on a public computer and can't remember the shortcut, try this "old school" trick:

  1. Copy the text from ChatGPT.
  2. Paste it into your Browser's Address Bar (where you type URLs).
  3. Copy it again from the address bar and paste it into your document.

The address bar automatically kills all formatting, leaving you with 100% clean text.

Summary

Stop wasting time manually fixing formatting. Using Ctrl + Shift + V is a game-changer for your productivity.

Want more AI hacks? Check out our guide on how to add a new line in ChatGPT without sending to master your prompt engineering skills.