Slack Clean Copy

A macOS menu bar app that automatically cleans up messy Slack clipboard content.

The Problem

When you copy text from Slack, it comes out messy:

• Random line breaks between usernames and timestamps
• Reaction counts scattered throughout ("2 replies", ":thumbsup: 1")
• Thread preview metadata ("Last reply 9 days ago View thread")
• Emoji shortcodes instead of actual emojis (:tada: instead of the emoji)
• Internal Slack markup artifacts like <CHORUS_TAG>
• Inline timestamps from grouped messages
• Slack handle URLs embedded in mentions

How It Works

Slack Clean Copy runs in your menu bar and monitors your clipboard. When you copy from Slack, it automatically:

1. Parses the messy format - Detects message boundaries, separates usernames from content, handles both single-line and multi-line message formats
2. Strips the noise - Removes reaction counts, thread previews, system messages ("joined #channel"), date headers, and Slack internal markup
3. Cleans up formatting - Converts emoji shortcodes to real emojis, removes inline continuation timestamps, strips Slack handle URLs from @mentions
4. Preserves what matters - Keeps the actual message content, bullet points, code blocks, and formatting (bold, italic, strikethrough)

All of this happens instantly and silently. You just copy from Slack and paste clean text.

Usage

1. Download SlackCleanCopy.dmg from the Releases page
2. Open the DMG and drag "Slack Clean Copy" to Applications
3. Launch the app (it appears in your menu bar as a clipboard icon)
4. Copy any text from Slack - it's automatically cleaned
5. Paste anywhere

Note: Since the app is not notarized, you may need to right-click and select "Open" on first launch.

Undo

If you need the original Slack content, press Cmd+Shift+Z or click "Undo Last Clean" in the menu bar dropdown.

Configuration

Click the menu bar icon to access settings:

Option	Description	Default
Enable/Disable	Turn cleaning on/off	Enabled
Output Format	Plain text or Markdown	Plain text
Keep Usernames	Include sender names	Yes
Keep Timestamps	Include message times	No
Keep Emojis	Convert shortcodes to emojis	No
Link Handling	Keep as-is, convert to markdown, or strip	Keep as-is
Show Notifications	Display toast when cleaning	Yes
Launch at Login	Start automatically	No
Hide Dock Icon	Menu bar only	Yes

License

This is free and unencumbered software released into the public domain. Anyone is free to copy, modify, publish, use, compile, sell, or distribute this software for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial.

See UNLICENSE for the full license text.