Sunset Mesa Software
PowerToys Advanced Paste vs Rewire Text
Advanced Paste is one of the best reasons to install Microsoft PowerToys: press Win+Shift+V and whatever is on your clipboard can land as plain text, Markdown, JSON, a file, or even text extracted from an image, with an optional AI prompt on top. It is free, well made, and if you are on Windows you should probably have it.
Rewire Text works one step earlier and one step later: it transforms the text you have selected, in the app where it already lives, no copy and no paste. It also carries a catalog Advanced Paste does not attempt: 43 named deterministic transforms and 18 AI transforms in a searchable palette. The two tools are more complementary than competing, which this page tries to lay out fairly.
At a glance
| Rewire Text | PowerToys Advanced Paste | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | macOS and Windows | Windows only (part of Microsoft PowerToys) |
| Price | $29 one-time | Free (Microsoft, open source) |
| License and trial | One license, any 2 devices, managed by you. 7-day fully functional trial, then a core set of transforms stays free. 14-day refund. | No license needed |
| How you trigger it | Global hotkey and command palette in any app, plus a full window for longer text | Win+Shift+V at paste time. It transforms clipboard content on paste, not the selection in place. |
| Non-AI transforms | 43 transforms (case, encoding, formatting and cleanup, Markdown, developer tools). Instant, on-device, no key, no network. | Paste-format conversions: plain text, HTML to Markdown, XML to JSON, paste as file, local OCR, media transcoding |
| AI transforms | 18 fixed transforms (tone, proofread, summarize, and more), one-click translation into 29+ languages, free-form custom instructions, and custom transforms you save and reuse | Opt-in "Paste with AI": one free-form prompt box plus saved custom actions. No named transform catalog. |
| Bring your own key | Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude, OpenAI, xAI Grok, and OpenRouter built in, plus any OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Through OpenRouter and compatible endpoints, that reaches hundreds of models from effectively every major provider. | OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Mistral, Google, Azure AI Inference. No Anthropic, no OpenRouter. |
| Local models | Ollama, LM Studio, llama.cpp | Foundry Local, Ollama |
PowerToys Advanced Paste facts verified July 13, 2026 against learn.microsoft.com. Out of date? Tell us.
Where Advanced Paste is the better pick
- It is free. Part of PowerToys, maintained by Microsoft, updated regularly.
- Clipboard format conversion. Paste as plain text, HTML to Markdown, XML to JSON, paste as a .txt or .png file. If your problem is "this clipboard content is the wrong format," it is exactly the right tool.
- OCR and media tricks. Image-to-text runs locally, and it can transcode clipboard media to .mp3 or .mp4. Rewire Text works on text only.
- Deep Windows integration. Per-action direct shortcuts and the polish of the PowerToys ecosystem.
Where Rewire Text is the better pick
- In-place transformation. Advanced Paste needs the copy-invoke-paste cycle, and the result lands where you paste it. Rewire Text replaces the selection right where it is: fix the case of a heading in your CMS, unwrap PDF line breaks in an email draft, or proofread a paragraph in a form without leaving it.
- A named transform catalog. Sixty-plus transforms you can search by name (Title Case, Slugify, Base64 Decode, Unwrap Text, Make Professional, Translate to Spanish) instead of one freeform AI prompt box plus a handful of paste formats. Case conversion, encoding, whitespace cleanup, and Markdown utilities have no Advanced Paste equivalent.
- Wider AI reach. Anthropic Claude, Gemini, Grok, and OpenRouter alongside OpenAI, plus any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, with results streaming into a preview and per-transform cost tracking. Advanced Paste's AI is OpenAI-family only, with no preview step.
- macOS too. One license covers your Windows PC and your Mac. PowerToys stops at Windows.
Which should you choose?
- Your problem is clipboard formats (paste as plain text, HTML to Markdown, OCR): Advanced Paste. It is free and purpose-built for exactly that.
- Your problem is transforming text that is already in a document, form, or chat: Rewire Text. The in-place flow and the transform catalog are the product.
- Both, honestly: they coexist without overlap. This is the rare comparison page whose answer is often "and," not "or."
Questions
Is Advanced Paste free?
Yes. It ships as part of Microsoft PowerToys, which is free and open source. If you are a Windows power user, PowerToys is worth installing regardless of anything on this page.
Does Advanced Paste transform selected text in place?
No, and that is the core difference. It converts what is on your clipboard at paste time: copy, press Win+Shift+V, choose a format, paste. Rewire Text acts on the selection where it sits: select, hotkey, transform, and the text is replaced in the same spot with no paste step.
Which AI providers does each support?
Advanced Paste supports OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Mistral, Google, and Azure AI Inference, plus Foundry Local and Ollama locally; there is no Anthropic or OpenRouter option. Rewire Text has Gemini, Claude, OpenAI, Grok, and OpenRouter built in, plus any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, and Ollama, LM Studio, and llama.cpp locally.
Does Advanced Paste work on a Mac?
No. PowerToys is Windows-only. Rewire Text runs on Windows and macOS, and one license covers a machine of each.
Should I use both?
Quite possibly. They barely overlap: Advanced Paste is excellent for clipboard format conversion (paste as plain text, HTML to Markdown, OCR from images), while Rewire Text handles transforming text that is already sitting in a document, form, or message. Keep Advanced Paste; add Rewire Text if the in-place workflow and the transform catalog earn it.
Keep Advanced Paste. Try this too.
Rewire Text's trial is 7 days, fully functional. If transforming text where it already sits beats the copy-and-paste dance for you, it is $29 once for any two devices.