HTML page disable copy/paste

Question

In a HTML page user should not be allowed to copy a text, but at the same time I want to give option for the user to select a particular text (for highlighting purpose). That means CTRL+C should be disabled and CTRL+A should be enabled.

Can anyone tell me how to do this?

you can use CSS: ` -moz-user-select: none; -webkit-user-select: none; -ms-user-select: none; -o-user-select: none; user-select: none; ` — Shawn, Oct 25 '16 at 21:03

score 70 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:17

70

You cannot prevent people from copying text from your page. If you are trying to satisfy a "requirement" this may work for you:

<body oncopy="return false" oncut="return false" onpaste="return false">

How to disable Ctrl C/V using javascript for both internet explorer and firefox browsers

A more advanced aproach:

How to detect Ctrl+V, Ctrl+C using JavaScript?

Edit: I just want to emphasise that disabling copy/paste is annoying, won't prevent copying and is 99% likely a bad idea.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:17

Community

1
1

answered Feb 13 '14 at 01:10

actual_kangaroo

5,971
2
31
45

4

_"annoying"_ Totally! I was trying to copy **public** information, and the copy function is disabled. It makes no sense. _"won't prevent copying"_ Yes, I just blanked out `oncopy` in Firefox Inspect Element to read `oncopy=""` and the Copy function worked fine. I was able to copy anything I wanted from the page :) – ADTC Feb 12 '18 at 16:51
1

@ADTC Just because information is displayed publicly doesn't mean you have the rights to it. This is the kind of misunderstanding that gives people the impression that they have right to copy-paste content from someone's website onto their own. – Hashim Aziz May 05 '23 at 17:38
1

@HashimAziz there was no talk about rights, or violation thereof. I am **not** encouraging plagiarism, which is copying someone else's work and passing it off as one's own. The legitimate reasons to copy what's on the web include 1. copying information inside my own account to be pasted in a private place for my own reference (badly designed bank and govt websites are notorious for disabling all right-click functions in the name of _false_ "security"), and 2. copying things to share with friends or acquaintances with adequate understanding that I didn't author what I'm sharing, not to profit. – ADTC May 06 '23 at 07:30

score 39 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 13 '14 at 01:37

39

You can use jquery for this:

$('body').bind('copy paste',function(e) {
    e.preventDefault(); return false; 
});

Using jQuery bind() and specififying your desired eventTypes .

answered Feb 13 '14 at 01:37

Vainglory07

5,073
10
43
77

3

This is not working. – Anuj Feb 27 '15 at 10:03
what's your browser? do you have jQuery loaded before you run this snippet? – Vainglory07 Feb 27 '15 at 10:10
Chrome. Yes jquery is loaded. – Anuj Feb 27 '15 at 10:12
Its not working for me as well. I can see jquery loaded from this line, – jrh Jul 28 '15 at 08:28
3

this should be: $('body').bind('copy',function(e) { e.preventDefault(); return false; }); $('body').bind('paste',function(e) { e.preventDefault(); return false; }); – Diego Sagrera Dec 09 '16 at 23:56
This works. You can copy but you cannot paste. Kinda wierd. – Janaka Dombawela Feb 15 '18 at 06:29
Modern vanilla JS alternative to this here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/76186294/1191147. – Hashim Aziz May 05 '23 at 22:41

HTML page disable copy/paste

2 Answers2

Linked