To copy a whole web page on iPhone, run a short Shortcut from Safari's Share sheet that copies all of the page's text, or save the page as a PDF with a full-page screenshot. Safari has no Select All for page text: a November 2025 post on Apple's support forum reports that on iOS 26 it appears only inside text fields. If you only need the page's address, touch and hold Safari's address bar and tap Copy Link.
The five methods below cover the text, a PDF, pages that block copying, and the link. The Shortcut steps follow Apple's iOS 27 Shortcuts guide, and the Reader, screenshot and Live Text steps follow Apple's iPhone guides for iOS 26 and iOS 27.
Which method fits what you want
| What you want | Best method | Setup |
|---|---|---|
| All the text on a page, ready to paste | A Share sheet Shortcut | A few minutes, once |
| Just an article's text | Reader, then drag the grab points | None |
| The page exactly as it looks | A full-page PDF | None |
| Text from a page that blocks copying | A screenshot and Live Text | None |
| Only the page's address | Copy Link from the address bar | None |
Copy all the text on a page with a Shortcut
Apple documents a Shortcuts action that runs a line of JavaScript on the page you are viewing and hands the result to the next action. One line asks the page for its text, and a second action puts it on the clipboard. Build it once:
- Open the Shortcuts app and tap the plus button to start a new shortcut.
- Add the Run JavaScript on Webpage action and replace its script with
completion(document.body.innerText);. Apple says the script has to call the completion handler to return anything. - Add Copy to Clipboard below it, with the JavaScript result as its input.
- Open the shortcut's Details, turn on Show in Share Sheet, and under Receive deselect every input type except Safari webpages. Name it Copy Page Text.
- Go to Settings > Apps > Shortcuts > Advanced and turn on Allow Running Scripts. Apple's Shortcuts guide lists the shorter path Settings > Shortcuts > Advanced, so if Shortcuts is not at the top level of Settings on your iPhone, look under Apps.
To use it, open the page in Safari, open the Share sheet (tap the Page Menu button at the left end of the address bar, then Share), and tap Copy Page Text. The first time it runs on a page, Shortcuts asks whether the shortcut may interact with the page. Tap Allow, then paste anywhere.
The copy holds the text the page is showing: menus, cookie notices and footers come along, and sections folded away behind a Read more button may be left out, so expand them first. On a page that loads more as you scroll, you get what has loaded so far. If a very long page fails to copy, one write-up from August 2026 says to turn on Allow Sharing Large Amounts of Data in the same Advanced settings.
Apple's warning is worth heeding. A shortcut that runs JavaScript on a page can read everything on it, including sensitive data, so run only a script you wrote or trust. Community write-ups describe even shorter versions built on the Get Contents of Web Page or Get Article from Web Page actions, followed by Copy to Clipboard. Apple's guides do not document those two, so this page uses the action Apple does.
Copy an article with Reader and the grab points
With no setup, Reader gives you clean text to select:
- In Safari, tap the Page Menu button and choose Show Reader. Apple says Reader shows just the relevant text and images, and it is offered only on supported pages.
- Touch and hold the first word of the article to select it.
- Drag the lower grab point down the page. The page scrolls as you reach the bottom edge, so keep going to the last word.
- Tap Copy.
Triple-tap selects a paragraph if you only need part of the article, and the text selection tips cover every gesture. Reader does not bring Select All back: a community thread about iOS 16.5 reports that it vanished from Reader as well.
Save the page as a PDF or a full-page screenshot
When the layout matters, keep the page itself. Apple describes two routes:
- Full-page screenshot. Press the side button and volume up button together, tap the thumbnail in the lower left, and tap Full Page. Apple notes this can capture an entire webpage in Safari. Drag the handles to crop, then tap Done and choose where to save it.
- Share and Markup. In Safari, tap the Page Menu button, then Share, then Markup. Annotate if you like, tap Done, and choose Save File To. The result is a PDF.
A PDF is a saved file, not text on your clipboard. To get words out of it, open it and select the text the way you would in any document, or see how to copy text from a PDF on iPhone. Text that comes out of a PDF often has a line break after every visual line, and fixing those line breaks is a separate job.
Copy a page that blocks selection
Some sites disable selection. Live Text reads the words in a screenshot, so it does not care. Take a screenshot (side button and volume up together), open it in Photos, tap the Live Text button, touch and hold the text and drag the grab points, or tap Select All, which Apple says selects all the text within the frame. Then tap Copy Text. For a page longer than one screen, take one screenshot per screenful. Live Text has to be on under Settings > General > Language & Region, and it is not available in every region or language. The screenshot text guide goes deeper, and what to do when you can't copy text from a website covers the other fixes.
Copy the page's link instead
If "copy the page" meant the address, touch and hold Safari's address bar and tap Copy Link (iOS 18 and earlier say Copy). How to copy a link on iPhone covers every app.
What you get when you paste
The Shortcut copies plain characters, so links and styling are gone. Text you drag-select in Reader is copied with its structure and usually keeps its links and headings in a rich text app such as Notes, as how to copy and paste with formatting on iPhone explains. A very long copy is usually fine to paste, but if a paste is cut off, see whether there is a character limit on the iPhone clipboard.
The iPhone clipboard holds one item, so the next copy replaces the page you just grabbed. To keep it, switch to the Clipboard AI keyboard with the globe key right after copying (it saves your latest copy as it opens) or open the app. The free plan keeps your last 10 copies and 5 saved clips, and Pro makes both unlimited. The copy and paste guides collect the rest of the topic.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Safari on iPhone have a Select All for a whole page?
No. A November 2025 Apple Community thread on iOS 26 says Select All appears only in text fields, and an older thread reports it vanished from Reader after iOS 16. Apple's guides document Select All for text, photos and the camera frame, not for web pages.
Does the page-copying Shortcut work in Chrome?
No. Apple says the Run JavaScript on Webpage action needs an active Safari webpage as its input, so you must run the shortcut from the share sheet in Safari, SFSafariViewController or ASWebAuthenticationSession. Open the page in Safari first, then run it.
Is it safe to run a Shortcut that runs JavaScript?
Yes, if you wrote the script or trust its author. Apple warns that such a shortcut can read everything on the page, shows a prompt before it first runs on a page, and says never to run JavaScript you do not trust. The script on this page only reads the page's text.
Is a full-page screenshot the same as copying a page?
No. A full-page screenshot is a saved PDF, not text on your clipboard. Apple says Full Page can capture an entire webpage in Safari, and Safari can also save a page as a PDF through Share and Markup. To get the words out, select the text in the PDF or run Live Text on it.
Does text copied from a page keep its links and formatting?
Not with the Shortcut: it copies the visible text as plain characters, so links and styling drop. Text you drag-select in Reader usually keeps its links and headings when you paste into a rich text app, while a plain text field keeps only the words.
Sources
- Apple Support, “Use the Run JavaScript on Webpage action in Shortcuts on iPhone or iPad”, Shortcuts User Guide, read October 5, 2026
- Apple Support, “Intro to the Run JavaScript on Webpage action in Shortcuts on iPhone or iPad”, Shortcuts User Guide, read October 5, 2026
- Apple Support, “Advanced Privacy and security settings in Shortcuts on iPhone or iPad”, Shortcuts User Guide, read October 5, 2026
- Apple Support, “Take a screenshot on iPhone”, iPhone User Guide, read October 5, 2026
- Apple Support, “Annotate and save a webpage as a PDF in Safari on iPhone”, iPhone User Guide, read October 5, 2026
- Apple Support, “Hide distractions when reading articles in Safari on iPhone”, iPhone User Guide, read October 5, 2026
- Apple Support, “Interact with content in a photo or video on iPhone”, iPhone User Guide, read October 5, 2026
- Apple Community, “Select all text on a webpage in Safari on iPhone”, November 16, 2025
- Apple Community, “Select all feature in safari reader mode”, read October 5, 2026
- 小さなIT解決室, “How to copy an entire webpage on iPhone in one go”, August 22, 2026
