Comments on: Clear Formatting in Word

Question: Clear Formatting in Word

Orange Goblin — Tue, 22 Jun 2004 07:12:12 -0800

How can I get Microsoft word to paste things as plain text by default? Why would I want the formatting of the website I'm copying ~~my homework~~ from anyway?

By: ac

ac — Tue, 22 Jun 2004 07:13:45 -0800

I don't think there exists a way to do it by default... however I know that you can (at least in Word 2002/2003) see a little ... thing ... (I think its supposed to look like a clipboard) in the bottom right corner of what you pasted, you can click on it and check "Keep Source Formatting". That's what I do every time, it can be a pain but easier than reformatting everything yourself.

By: rtimmel

rtimmel — Tue, 22 Jun 2004 07:18:55 -0800

You can also customize the tollbars to include "paste special." It is then a fairly easy two-step process: Click on Paste Special and choose unformated text.

By: Orange Goblin

Orange Goblin — Tue, 22 Jun 2004 07:25:46 -0800

Bah. I can't be the only one who gets pissed off by this. Is there someway I could remap ctrl+v to Paste Special?

By: zpousman

zpousman — Tue, 22 Jun 2004 07:29:33 -0800

In Mac OS X, it's a snap to remap the shortcuts. System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts. In Windows XP...

By: yerfatma

yerfatma — Tue, 22 Jun 2004 07:29:39 -0800

I usually keep a text editor open. copy, paste into that, select all (CTRL+A), copy, paste to final destination. It's a little quicker then Paste Special if you do it all with the CTRL key commands. There has to be a registry hack for this. Someone please think of the x% of users who don't want all that shitty MS HTML clogging things up.

By: riffola

riffola — Tue, 22 Jun 2004 07:48:15 -0800

Shift Paste pastes in plain text.

By: Orange Goblin

Orange Goblin — Tue, 22 Jun 2004 07:52:26 -0800

What do you mean by Shift Paste? Ctrl+Shift+V? Doesn't seem to do anything for me.

By: cbrody

cbrody — Tue, 22 Jun 2004 07:54:33 -0800

Create a macro in normal.dot as follows (alt-F11, insert module):

Sub pasteText()
    Selection.PasteSpecial DataType:=wdPasteText
End Sub

Then go to Tools > Customize... > Keyboard... , select the macro you just created and assign it to ctrl-v. Done!

By: ALongDecember

ALongDecember — Tue, 22 Jun 2004 07:56:03 -0800

In Word 2000:

Tools > Customize > Keyboard (button)

You could select Edit... under Categories and change EditPasteSpecial to be Ctrl+v and change EditPaste to be something else.

Also, a Notepad replacement program like NoteTab can act as a "paste board." Anything you copy will be automatically pasted into a text file. All you have to do is copy again from NoteTab and paste.

By: signal

signal — Tue, 22 Jun 2004 08:02:55 -0800

Install Text-cleanup, set it to clean text on copy automatically.

By: riffola

riffola — Tue, 22 Jun 2004 08:12:46 -0800

Sorry, I thought it was Ctrl+Shift+V, you can assign Crtl+Alt+V to Paste Special using Word's keyboard customizer.

By: turbodog

turbodog — Tue, 22 Jun 2004 09:19:03 -0800

For what I most often use Word for, this is THE most annoying default behavior so the past special unformatted text macro is a life saver. Also, the pasted text inherits the style of wherever it's pasted, also a good thing.

By: aladfar

aladfar — Tue, 22 Jun 2004 10:47:14 -0800

Should you use OS X, you may find Plain Clip helpful. I've got it tied to a key combo, and it's made my life much easier. And it's free!

By: eckeric

eckeric — Wed, 23 Jun 2004 09:01:13 -0800

Create a macro in normal.dot as follows ....

cbrody is my new hero!

By: ac

ac — Wed, 23 Jun 2004 19:48:32 -0800

Function cbrody
cbrody = jesus
return