# Hidden HTML prevents duplication check

**URL:** <https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/hidden-html-prevents-duplication-check/38459>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [December 16, 2023, 4:26pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/hidden-html-prevents-duplication-check/38459 "2023-12-16T16:26:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![slabz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@slabz](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/slabz)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2023, 4:26pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/hidden-html-prevents-duplication-check/38459/1 "2023-12-16T16:26:18Z")

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For example, these two cards are not labeled as duplicates even though the visible content is the same. And it’s easy for this to happen when one copy pastes text onto Anki.

Card 1 (add page):  
 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/anki2/original/3X/7/a/7a4db6a524026f100c62e82ab6caf5ba8c08f78f.png)

Card 2 (browse page)  
 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/anki2/original/3X/6/0/602d30a3a3f66ca9a525bd7ed0bd0103f0b4502c.png)

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**Author:** ![sprvlcn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@sprvlcn](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/sprvlcn)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2023, 4:44pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/hidden-html-prevents-duplication-check/38459/2 "2023-12-16T16:44:42Z")

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You can hold down the Shift key while pasting, to prevent HTML tags from being pasted. Or you can go to Tools / Preferences / Editing and turn on “Paste without shift key strips formatting”

Note: both of the above were temporarily broken with Anki 23.12beta2. HTML tags would get pasted in regardless of Shift key or settings. If using Help / About shows “Version 23.12 (97f43fb)” then you have 23.12beta2 and should upgrade to beta3.

You can search for `<div` or `<span` or similar tags in the Browse window. You can also search for `&nbsp;` to look for cases where spaces are actually non-breaking spaces. Actually, you could use Find and Replace… to replace every occurrence of `&nbsp;` with an ordinary space, everywhere.

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/anki2/original/1X/8f1279ababc5879d54e4838989f606cfe55af8c7.jpeg) [@system](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/system)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2024, 4:44pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/hidden-html-prevents-duplication-check/38459/3 "2024-01-15T16:44:44Z")

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Closed on January 15, 2024, 4:44pm UTC

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