Get Selected Text

Read the text you have highlighted on the active tab into a field.

Try it

workflow · first-workflow.awf 3 steps

My first workflow: a workflow with 3 steps, starting with When Started and ending with Edit Fields.

1. 1 When Started(Trigger — open its doc page) Trigger
2. 2 Get Selected Text(In-page action — open its doc page) In-page action
3. 3 Edit Fields(Data — open its doc page) Data

Open in AWFlow Copy .awf

What it does

Get Selected Text takes whatever text is currently selected (highlighted with the mouse) on the active tab and stores it in the field you name in Output field name. You get plain text, without formatting.

The output holds only the new field. Turn on Include input fields to keep the incoming item’s fields next to it.

The node fails when nothing is selected, so the rest of the workflow does not run on empty text.

When to use it

• “Select, then act” workflows: translate, summarize, look up or save the passage you just highlighted.
• Pair it with a Context Menu or Hotkey trigger so you select text and run the workflow in one gesture.
• To keep links and formatting, use Get HTML of Selected Text. To read the whole page, use Get All Text.

Inputs and settings

Setting	Type	What it does
Output field name REQ(required)	Text	The name of the output field.
Options	Group	The options for the node.
Options › Include input fields	Toggle	Whether to include the input fields in the output. Default: Off

Output field name: for example selection. Later nodes read it with {{ $input.selection }}.

Outputs

• Output

One item with your field, for example { "selection": "the text you highlighted" }.

Dependencies and credentials

None. This node needs no connection and has no slots for other nodes.

Example workflow

1. Add a Context Menu trigger, so the workflow appears when you right-click selected text.
2. Add Get Selected Text with Output field name = selection.
3. Add Translate with Text = {{ $input.selection }}, From = English and To = French. It runs on your device.
4. Show the result with Display Markdown.

Common issues

• “No content found”. Nothing was selected on the active tab when the node ran. Select the text first, and keep that tab active while the workflow runs.
• Selected text inside a box on the page is not picked up. Text selected inside an embedded frame (some editors and comment widgets) is not read; only the main page is.
• The node fails outside the extension. This node runs in the browser extension; install it or run the workflow from the extension.

Recipes with this node

Turn highlighted text into a Todoist task beginner · 6 min Needs a connection Explain any highlighted text in plain words beginner · 4 min On-device Rewrite rough text in a professional tone beginner · 4 min On-device

Related nodes

• Get HTML of Selected Text: the same selection, with its markup.
• Get All Text: all the text of the page.
• Clipboard Write: put a result back on the clipboard.