How to View Blurred Text on Websites - 56juqingba: How-to instructions you can trust

Spread the love

Website text blurring is a common practice online publications use to keep their content exclusive to subscribers. While not all websites charge to unblur text, nearly all of them require you to share personal information to gain access. Luckily, you can learn how to view the blurred text on websites that hide content behind paywalls.

Good to know: you may be interested in learning how to copy-paste on websites that won’t let you.

Content

Table of Contents

How to Unblur Text on a Website

If you need a little more sample content before committing to a sign-up or paid subscription, it can be useful to know how to preview hidden text.

In most cases, you need to sign up with a free account on the website to unblur text. If you don’t want to use your email address to create an account, we recommend using a disposable email address or a service like BugMeNot. If the option is not available, or you don’t want to sign up, you may want to experiment with one of the methods below.

Keep in mind that the methods below aren’t guaranteed to work on all websites. Also, they should be used only to evaluate whether a membership or subscription is necessary. We do not condone bypassing any paywall that supports journalism.

1. Use Google Translate as a Proxy to View Hidden Text

Google Translate is a viable tool for unblurring text on a web page. Use it to view the full and translated version of a web page with blurred content.

Open the web page with the text you want to unblur, and copy the page URL.

Go to Google Translate, and paste the URL into the box on the left.

Click on the URL in the box on the right. If you’d prefer a language other than English, choose one, then click on the refreshed URL.

You will be directed to a new tab containing an unblurred version of the web page. You can also try this method while using your smartphone, if the Google Translate app is installed.

If this method doesn’t work for you, move on to the next solution.

2. View a Snapshot on Internet Archive

Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine is a free-for-all tool, where anyone can save and look up versions of web pages. The tool also crawls the web and archives cached pages. You can use it to look up saved versions of a restricted article – if any are available.

Copy the URL of the web page in question.

Go to the Internet Archive, and paste the URL into the Wayback Machine search bar to check whether the page was archived.

Select the page version you want to view. For the latest content, pick the latest archived version based on date and time. Available archived versions are marked by blue circles on the calendar.

The archived version you selected will show the blurred content.

Tip: build a personal website in under an hour by following our guide.

3. Open the Page From Google Search

While some websites allow subscribers to view premium content, they allow non-paying visitors to view the full content of the link they clicked from Google Search results to boost their traffic. However, if you use this method, you’re only allowed to view the content of the page URL you clicked, and when you go deeper into the website, you’ll meet a paywall.

Copy the title of the page containing the blurred text you want to view, and paste it into Google Search. Hover over the page’s tab, and you’ll see the page title. If you can’t highlight and copy the page title, type it manually.

For more accurate search results, type the website name at the end or beginning of your query.

Click on the result with the same page URL as the page you want to unblur.

The entire page should now be available for viewing. This method works on both PCs and mobile devices.

Tip: get up to speed with the best solutions for monitoring website changes.

4. View Blurred Content With Inspect Element

The Inspect or Inspect Element tool is available in all desktop web browsers. Using this option, you can view and edit a website’s source code, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and media files. Any change you make is visible in real-time on the page you’re “inspecting.” This feature also allows you to unblur text on some websites.

On the page you want to unblur, right-click anywhere, and select Inspect or Inspect Element. The Inspect section should pop out on the right or at the bottom of your browser window.

To eliminate the annoying pop-up from the bottom that asks you to type your email address, use Inspect’s search function, and look for gateaway-content. Click on display: flex in the block’s properties on the bottom of the display, and change it from flex to none.

Scroll upwards, and click on an element that contains gateway-container, and check the properties window below. Click the text box with overflow: hidden, and change it from hidden to scroll.

Scroll through the article without issue.

Keep in mind that the name of the page’s blocker element can differ from website to website, and the style attribute may not always show up as overflow. You’ll need a bit of trial and error to locate the relevant bits of code you need to modify or delete. If you mess up, refresh the page to start over. You’ll finally get the pixels to dissipate.

FYI: stay up to date with these read later apps that help you subscribe to newsletters.

5. Switch to Reader Mode

Most modern browsers offer a “reader” mode that removes web page clutter, like ads and other distractions. This mode allows you to view blurred or paywalled content on some websites. It’s optional in certain browsers, so you may need to enable it first from Settings. Interestingly, you can sometimes use this mode to view blurred text on websites.

In Chrome, click the three dots in the upper-right corner, and select More tools -> Reading mode.

With the reader on the right side of the display, check whether you can view the content in full.

Firefox makes it even easier than that. Navigate to the website in question, and click the page-like icon in the address bar to switch to Reader view.

If you want to take advantage of Reading mode on Android while using Chrome, you will have to download Reading mode from the Google Play Store.

6. Disable JavaScript

Another method you may want to try to quickly unblur text is disabling JavaScript in Chrome.

Go to Privacy & security -> Site settings.

Scroll down to the Content section, and click JavaScript.

Select Don’t allow sites to use JavaScript.

Reload the page in a new tab to make the text visible.

On Android, go to Settings -> Site Settings -> JavaScript, and disable it from there.

7. Pretend You Are Coming From Facebook

Some websites allow users coming from Facebook to read their articles in full without blurring the text. You’ll need a Facebook account to try this trick. Use https://facebook.com/l.php?u= at the end, and copy and paste the restricted URL.

Click on the Follow Link button to continue to the website in question. A new tab will open with your page with unblurred text.

8. Install an Extension

If you prefer to use an extension to help you bypass site restrictions, a good option is Unpaywall, available for Chrome and Firefox. This tool is geared toward unlocking scholarly articles. If you want to read research papers as free users on places like Nature or PubMed, look no further than Unpaywall.

Install the extension in your browser, then navigate to the restricted website in your browser. A green tab should appear on the right indicating that content has been unlocked. Click it to see the paper in full in a new tab. If the extension can’t unlock the content, the tab will appear gray.

For a more general-use extension that can unlock other websites, try Bypass Paywall.

There aren’t as many options for extensions on mobile, but you can install the one mentioned above in the Kiwi browser on Android. On iOS, you may want to download a routine for the Shortcuts app, like AntiPaywall, to unblur text.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it legal to unblur a website?

It’s not illegal to unblur a website if you’re using the methods above and don’t intend to use the blurred content and image text for commercial purposes. The potential for legal action also depends on the country you’re in. You could be fined for circumventing a paywall or receive a DMCA violation notice. Your IP address could also be blacklisted.

Is it ethical to unblur text on a website?

It’s not considered ethical to unblur content and image text that you can only access under certain conditions, such as signing up for a membership or paying for a subscription.

Can I reverse unblurred text?

Yes. When using Google Translate, Internet Archive, and Google Search to unblur text, there’s no need to revert the unblurred content. Just close the page in question. For the Inspect tool, reverse unblurred text by refreshing the page. In Reader Mode, click on the Reader Mode icon to hide the paywalled content again.

Image credit: Pexels. All screenshots by Alexandra Arici.

Subscribe to our newsletter!

Our latest tutorials delivered straight to your inbox

Sign up for all newsletters.
By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and European users agree to the data transfer policy. We will not share your data and you can unsubscribe at any time. Subscribe

Alexandra Arici –
Staff Writer

Alexandra is passionate about mobile tech and can be often found fiddling with a smartphone from some obscure company. She kick-started her career in tech journalism in 2013, after working a few years as a middle-school teacher. Constantly driven by curiosity, Alexandra likes to know how things work and to share that knowledge with everyone.