Alternative Copy

Copies a shortened shareable link of the current tab's address to the clipboard (default: Alt+C, mac: Option+C).

Alternative Copy: Chrome Extension

Alternative Copy is a Chrome extension that allows you to copy a shortened shareable URL of the current tab. It removes irrelevant data and long strings from the URL, making it more appropriate for sharing. It supports enhanced shortening for sites like eBay, Amazon, YouTube, and local file URLs.
Install from Chrome Web Store

Extension stats

Users: 19
Rating: 5.00
(1)
Version: 2.1 (Last updated: 2024-04-23)
Creation date: 2019-12-15
Risk impact: Low risk impact
Risk likelihood:
Manifest version: 3
Permissions:
  • clipboardWrite
  • activeTab
  • scripting
Size: 9.53K

Other platforms

Not available on Android
Not available on Firefox
Not available on Edge
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Extension summary

This extension copies a shareable URL of the current tab to your clipboard. Many sites include long irrelevant strings of text in the URL bar that include tracking and advertising data that aren't friendly to share. Clicking the icon or pressing Alt+C will activate this extension, and the keyboard shortcut can be changed in your browser's extensions page. Defaults to Option+C for MacOS.

This extension removes the query string, and hashtag references, and will further remove irrelevant data on supported sites to get to a short URL more appropriate for sharing.

Sites currently supported for enhanced shortening:

  • eBay items (removes item description from URL)
  • Amazon items (removes item description and referrer from URL)
  • YouTube videos (removes playlist and start time from URL)
  • Local File URLs (copies a local path instead of URL)

For file:// urls that are on your local hard drive, Alternative Copy will put the native path string into the clipboard, and will surround the path with quotes if it contains any spaces. For example, file:///C:/Projects/AlternativeCopy/Test%20File%20URL.txt would copy as "C:\Projects\AlternativeCopy\Test File URL.txt" (windows), and file:///Temp/AlternativeCopy/TestFile.txt would copy as /Temp/AlternativeCopy/TestFile.txt (linux, BSD, MacOS).

Extension safety

Risk impact

Alternative Copy requires very minimum permissions.

Risk likelihood

Alternative Copy has earned a good reputation and can be trusted.

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Similar extensions

Here are some Chrome extensions that are similar to Alternative Copy: