Help & FAQ

Everything you need to know about using Decant.

Getting started

  1. Visit any web page you want to extract content from.
  2. Click the Decant icon in your Chrome toolbar (or pin it for easy access).
  3. Click "Extract" your clean content appears instantly.
  4. Choose Copy or Save to use it anywhere.

Tip: Pin Decant to your toolbar by clicking the puzzle icon in Chrome, then the pin icon next to Decant.

Output formats

Switch between formats using the toggle at the top of the popup:

Markdown

Clean text with headings, links, and images preserved. Perfect for notes, Obsidian, Notion.

JSON

Structured data with title, content, metadata. Ideal for developers and automation.

MCP

Model Context Protocol format, optimized for AI assistants like Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Windsurf, and more.

Extraction options

Smart Extract

When enabled, Decant uses Mozilla Readability to identify the main article content, stripping ads, navigation, sidebars, and clutter. Disable it to get the full page HTML converted to your chosen format.

Include Images

Keep image references in the output. Disable to get text-only content (useful for pasting into AI chat windows with token limits).

Detect Tables

Converts HTML tables into proper Markdown/JSON tables. The metadata also shows how many tables were found.

Full Page

Extract the entire page body instead of just the detected article. Useful for pages without a clear article structure (dashboards, wikis, etc.).

Keyboard shortcuts

Extract page contentCtrl+Shift+E
Extract & copy to clipboardCtrl+Shift+C
Extract & save to fileCtrl+Shift+S

On macOS, replace Ctrl with Cmd.

Customize shortcuts: Go to chrome://extensions/shortcuts in your browser to change key bindings.

Right-click menu

Right-click on any page (or selected text) to access Decant from the context menu:

Side panel

Decant also has a Chrome side panel for a larger preview of your extraction. After extracting content from the popup, the result is automatically sent to the side panel where you can:

Open the side panel from Chrome's side panel menu (click the side panel icon in the toolbar).

Guides

Explore our in-depth guides for specific features:

Your data

Decant stores preferences and history locally on your device only. No data is ever sent to any server.

You can manage your data from the extension settings page:

To access settings: right-click the Decant icon Options, or go to chrome://extensions Decant Details Extension options.

Frequently asked questions

Why does Decant need the "activeTab" permission?

To read the content of the page you're currently viewing. This permission only activates when you click the Decant icon it cannot read other tabs or run in the background.

Does Decant work on all websites?

Decant works on most websites. It cannot access Chrome internal pages (chrome://), the Chrome Web Store, or pages that use special security headers to block content scripts.

Why is the extraction empty or incomplete?

Some pages load content dynamically (infinite scroll, lazy loading). Try enabling Full Page mode. If the page is a single-page app that loads content via JavaScript, wait for it to fully load before extracting.

Can I extract content from PDFs?

Decant works on HTML pages. PDF files opened in Chrome's built-in viewer have limited support. For best results, use dedicated PDF tools.

What is MCP format?

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is a format designed for AI assistants. It includes metadata like the source URL, word count, and token estimate, wrapped in a structure that helps AI models understand the context of the content.

How do I report a bug or suggest a feature?

Contact us at contact@zoplop.com. We read every message.