Page Eraser – Remove Unwanted Elements From Any Webpage [Chrome]

Remove any element or section from any website in just two clicks. Page Eraser is an extension for Google Chrome that lets you customize any website in just two clicks.

The web can be a cluttered place full of stuffed sidebars, capricious comments and stupid social shortcuts. With Page Eraser you can rid of these annoying elements one at a time and slowly make your personal Internet into a place that only shows what you want to see.

EverNote Clearly and tools like it clean up individual pages for reading, but only work if you actively use them. Page Eraser allows you to manually pick which elements you’d rather not see on a particular webpage and then removes them every time you visit that page. Of course we’d prefer it if you didn’t use services like Page Eraser to remove ads – it’s how sites like ours make a living. It’s why Chris asked you to please whitelist us if you’re using AdBlock. But as always, it’s up to you. but remember – we asked nicely!

Using Page Eraser

Install this plugin and you’ll see a simple eraser icon added at the top-right, where all Chrome plugins live. Click it and you can immediately start selecting elements to remove from your page. Just hover over them and you’ll see them highlighted.

For example – if, for some reason, you never wanted to see the “featured article” section of our site ever again you only need to move your mouse over it until it’s highlighted:

Click and the item will immediately disappear. Even better – it will be gone every time you visit the site in the future.

Be warned that seemingly similar elements are sometimes completely different, so you may find yourself removing the same elements over and over again. Your results will vary from site to site, but the plugin generally works well. Cached versions of a site could also interfere with the plugin, so sometimes you will need to reload a page while holding “CTRL” for the plugin to work.

Do you feel like you’ve removed too much from a site? You can access the plugin’s settings by right-clicking the eraser icon and clicking “Options“. Here you’ll see a few options, along with the ability to completely reset any site to it’s pre-Eraser form.

You’ll need to start over, of course, but the site will become functional once again if you broke it. If you’re like me, you’ll remove everything you can until a given site is broken and wish this extension came with an “undo” tool. It doesn’t, so starting over is your only option.

Confused? This video outlines what this plugin can do for you, so check it out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkDh0mAJXw4

I can’t hope to sum it up better than that.

Download Page Eraser

If you’re ready to download, you’ll find Page Eraser in the Chrome Web Store, so installing this plugin couldn’t be easier.

Note that you need at least Chrome 20 for the plugin to work, so ensure you’re up-to-date before you try it out. You’re almost certainly up to date, but it never hurts to check if something’s not working.

Conclusion

This plugin isn’t perfect – sometimes it seems like certain elements just won’t go away – but when it works it’s a simple way to simplify any site. I’m enjoying it and hope you do too.

What sites are you using Page Eraser on? Share them in the comments below.

Originally published on MakeUseOf.com. Great site, check it out.