Paste Plain Text into Microsoft Word

Do you copy text from one document or web-page and then paste it into Microsoft Word?

Do you want the formatting to be the same as the rest of your Word document, or the same format as the document you copied?

Most of the time, I prefer the pasted text to be in the format of the current document.  If I need to alter the text, indent, bullet, etc…I can do that later.

It is rather easy to Paste Special/Unformatted Text in Word.

  1. From either the Edit menu or the Home Ribbon, choose Paste Special
  2. Choose Unformatted Text from the dialog box
  3. Click OK.

For those of us who prefer to use Ctrl-V when we paste, that choice is not available.

I read a tip many years ago about changing the function of the Ctrl-V shortcut keys to execute Paste Unformatted Text.

In simple terms, you create a macro and assign it to Ctrl-V.  Downside, if you want to paste including formatting, or another type of Paste Special, you will have to use the menu.

For Word 2007

  1. Open a blank document
  2. Navigate to the Developer Tab in the ribbon (did I tell you I cannot get used to the ribbon?) – If you do not have the Developer Tab on your ribbon, go to the bottom of this post for a tip.
  3. Click the Record Macro button
  4. Name your Macro, “PasteUnformatted” is a good one
  5. Click the Keyboard button
  6. Press Ctrl-V on your keyboard
  7. Click the Assign button
  8. Click the Close button
  9. The Macro Recorder is running, but since Word 2007 does not seem to record this macro correctly, click on the Stop Recording button
  10. Click on the Macros button
  11. Choose “PasteUnformatted” from the list and click on the Edit button
  12. You will see the code for any macros in this document.  Find the PasteUnformatted code.  It should look like this:
    Sub PasteUnformatted()

    ‘ PasteUnformatted Macro

    End Sub
  13. Add the line:
    Selection.PasteSpecial DataType:=wdPasteText
    so that it looks like this:
    Sub PasteUnformatted()

    ‘ PasteUnformatted Macro


    Selection.PasteSpecial DataType:=wdPasteText
    End Sub
  14. Close the editor, it will save automatically
  15. Test out your new keystrokes.
  16. Copy some text from a web-page
  17. Navigate to Word 2007
  18. Paste using the Ctrl-V keys then try using the button in the ribbon.
  19. They should be different, unless the web-page was formatted exactly like your Word document.

For Word 2003 – the process is very similar

  1. Open a blank document
  2. Choose Tools/Macro/Record New Macro from the menu.
    Name your Macro, “PasteUnformatted” is a good one
  3. Click the Keyboard button
  4. Press Ctrl-V on your keyboard
  5. Click the Assign button
  6. Click the Close button
  7. The Macro Recorder is running, but since Word 2003 does not seem to record this macro correctly, click on the Stop Recording button or choose Tools/Macro/Stop Recording from the menu
  8. Choose Tools/Macro/Macros from the menu
  9. Choose “PasteUnformatted” from the list and click on the Edit button
  10. You will see the code for any macros in this document.  Find the PasteUnformatted code.  It should look like this:
    Sub PasteUnformatted()

    ‘ PasteUnformatted Macro


    End Sub
  11. Add the line:
    Selection.PasteSpecial DataType:=wdPasteText
    so that it looks like this:
    Sub PasteUnformatted()

    ‘ PasteUnformatted Macro


    Selection.PasteSpecial DataType:=wdPasteText
    End Sub
  12. Close the editor, it will save automatically
  13. Test out your new keystrokes.
  14. Copy some text from a web-page
  15. Navigate to Word 2003
  16. Paste using the Ctrl-V keys then try using the button in the ribbon.
  17. They should be different, unless the web-page was formatted exactly like your Word document.

That is all there is to it.  It is quite a few steps, but in about 5 minutes you can save yourself lots of time later.  Let me know how it works for you!

———-

How-To-Show-The-Developer-Tab-In-Word-2007

  1. Click on the Office Button
  2. Click on the Word Options button
  3. Choose Popular
  4. There should be a check box next to “Show Developer Tab in the Ribbon” — Check that box.
  5. Click OK
  6. The Developer tab should be in your Ribbon now.

Remote Control of PCs

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Social Bookmarking

I have used social bookmarking primarily to keep track of places on the web that I want to visit later or keep track of.

The option to share those links with other people is good, as long as you remain fairly organized.  Just bookmarking for bookmarking sake is will not be helpful for other people.

The ability to search the bookmarks for keywords and find things you want to share with others is cool too.

While Delicious is a favorite of many, I have been using Furl.net for several years.

Bookmarks and favorites are a great way to store and access frequently used locations on the Internet. Furl is designed to archive (as well as share) anything you read online. You may have tens of bookmarks but thousands of Furl entries. If you read your local newspaper online every morning, bookmark it. If you read several fascinating news articles every week, Furl them. You can Furl items from work and home. You can search for them later from any browser, and share them with friends.

My Furl page is at http://www.furl.net/member/weglarz

Furl allows me to bookmark pages and share what I would like to share and keep private bookmarks I would like to keep private.

Try it out.  Add some topics, comments, clip a section, and add keywords.

Let me know how it works for you.