How to view hidden article content and register as a member on the website

Hiding text on websites is a common method online publications use to keep their content exclusive to subscribers. While not all websites require payment to view hidden text, nearly all require you to share personal information to gain access. Luckily, you can learn how to view hidden text on websites that only allow content access after paying a fee.

Note : Remember that the methods below are not guaranteed to work on all websites. Additionally, they should only be used to evaluate whether a membership or subscription is necessary. Do not abuse them to ignore legitimate requests to pay fees.

1. Use Google Translate as a proxy to view hidden text

Google Translate is a useful tool for viewing hidden text on web pages. Use it to view the full and translated version of a website with hidden content.

Open the website whose hidden text you want to see and copy its URL.

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

Click the URL in the box on the right. If you want a language other than English, select a language, then click the refreshed URL.

You will be taken to a new tab containing the unhidden version of the website. 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 snapshots on Internet Archive

The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine is a free tool where people can save and look up versions of websites. This tool also crawls the web and stores cached pages. You can use it to look up saved versions of a restricted article – if there are any.

Copy the URL of the website in question.

Go to Internet Archive and paste the URL into the Wayback Machine search bar to check if the page has been archived.

Select the version of the page you want to see. For the newest content, choose the latest archived version based on date and time. Available archived versions are marked with a blue circle on the calendar.

The archive version you choose will show hidden content.

3. Open the page from Google Search

Although some sites allow subscribers to view premium content, they allow non-paying visitors to view the full content of links they clicked on from Google Search results to increase traffic . However, if you use this method, you are only allowed to see the content of the page URL you clicked on, and as you go deeper into the site, you will encounter a paywall.

Copy the title of the page containing the hidden text you want to see and paste it into Google Search. Hover over a page's tab and you'll see the page title. If you can't highlight and copy the page title, enter it manually.

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

Click the result with the same page URL as the page you want to remove the hidden part from.

The entire page will now be available to view. This method works on both PC and mobile devices.

4. See hidden 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 the source code, HTML, CSS, JavaScript and media files of the website. Any changes you make are displayed in real time on the page you're 'testing'. This feature also allows you to remove hidden text on some web pages.

On the page where you want to remove hidden content, right-click anywhere and select Inspect or Inspect Element. The Inspect section will appear on the right side or bottom of your browser window.

To get rid of that annoying pop-up from the bottom asking you to enter your email address, use Inspect's search function and look for gateaway-content . Click display: flex in the block's properties at the bottom of the screen and change it from flex to none.

Scroll up and click on the element containing gateway-container and examine the properties window below. Click on the overflow: hidden text box and change it from hidden to scrollable.

Scrolled through the article without problems.

Keep in mind that page blocker names can vary between sites, and the style attribute doesn't always render as overflow. You will need to try to identify relevant pieces of code that you need to modify or remove. If it's wrong, refresh the page to start again.

5. Switch to Reader Mode

Most modern browsers offer a Reader mode that helps remove website clutter, like ads and other distractions. This mode allows you to view blurred or paid content on some websites. This feature is optional in certain browsers, so you may need to enable it from Settings first. What's interesting is that you can sometimes use this mode to view blurred text on web pages.

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 screen, check to see if you can see the full content.

Firefox makes things even easier. 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 when using Chrome, you will have to download Reading mode from the Google Play Store.

Kareem Winters

Update 12 April 2024