{"id":76,"date":"2008-11-13T18:27:00","date_gmt":"2008-11-14T00:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wheatontech.com\/?p=76"},"modified":"2021-03-24T14:21:52","modified_gmt":"2021-03-24T19:21:52","slug":"paste-plain-text-into-microsoft-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wheatontech.com\/index.php\/2008\/11\/13\/paste-plain-text-into-microsoft-word\/","title":{"rendered":"Paste Plain Text into Microsoft Word"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Do you copy text from one document or web-page and then paste it into Microsoft Word?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2026I can do that later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is rather easy to Paste Special\/Unformatted Text in Word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. From either the Edit menu or the Home Ribbon, choose Paste Special<\/li>
  2. Choose Unformatted Text from the dialog box<\/li>
  3. Click OK.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    For those of us who prefer to use Ctrl-V<\/strong> when we paste, that choice is not available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I read a tip many years ago about changing the function of the Ctrl-V<\/strong> shortcut keys to execute Paste Unformatted Text<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For Word 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Open a blank document<\/li>
    2. Navigate to the Developer Tab<\/strong> in the ribbon (did I tell you I cannot get used to the ribbon?) \u2013 If you do not have the Developer Tab<\/strong> on your ribbon, go to the bottom of this post for a tip.<\/li>
    3. Click the Record Macro<\/strong> button<\/li>
    4. Name your Macro, \u201cPasteUnformatted<\/strong>\u201d is a good one<\/li>
    5. Click the Keyboard<\/strong> button<\/li>
    6. Press Ctrl-V<\/strong> on your keyboard<\/li>
    7. Click the Assign<\/strong> button<\/li>
    8. Click the Close<\/strong> button<\/li>
    9. The Macro Recorder is running, but since Word 2007 does not seem to record this macro correctly, click on the Stop Recording<\/strong> button<\/li>
    10. Click on the Macros<\/strong> button<\/li>
    11. Choose \u201cPasteUnformatted<\/strong>\u201d from the list and click on the Edit <\/strong>button<\/li>
    12. You will see the code for any macros in this document.  Find the PasteUnformatted <\/strong>code.  It should look like this:
      Sub PasteUnformatted()
      \u2018
      \u2018 PasteUnformatted Macro
      \u2018
      End Sub<\/li>
    13. Add the line:
      Selection.PasteSpecial DataType:=wdPasteText
      so that it looks like this:
      Sub PasteUnformatted()
      \u2018
      \u2018 PasteUnformatted Macro
      \u2018
      \u2018
      Selection.PasteSpecial DataType:=wdPasteText
      End Sub<\/li>
    14. Close the editor, it will save automatically<\/li>
    15. Test out your new keystrokes.<\/li>
    16. Copy some text from a web-page<\/li>
    17. Navigate to Word 2007<\/li>
    18. Paste using the Ctrl-V<\/strong> keys then try using the button in the ribbon.<\/li>
    19. They should be different, unless the web-page was formatted exactly like your Word document.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      For Word 2003 \u2013 the process is very similar<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      1. Open a blank document<\/li>
      2. Choose Tools\/Macro\/Record New Macro from the menu.
        Name your Macro, \u201cPasteUnformatted\u201d is a good one<\/li>
      3. Click the Keyboard button<\/li>
      4. Press Ctrl-V<\/strong> on your keyboard<\/li>
      5. Click the Assign <\/strong>button<\/li>
      6. Click the Close <\/strong>button<\/li>
      7. The Macro Recorder is running, but since Word 2003 does not seem to record this macro correctly, click on the Stop Recording<\/strong> button or choose Tools\/Macro\/Stop Recording from the menu<\/li>
      8. Choose Tools\/Macro\/Macros from the menu<\/li>
      9. Choose \u201cPasteUnformatted\u201d from the list and click on the Edit <\/strong>button<\/li>
      10. You will see the code for any macros in this document.  Find the PasteUnformatted code.  It should look like this:
        Sub PasteUnformatted()
        \u2018
        \u2018 PasteUnformatted Macro
        \u2018
        \u2018
        End Sub<\/li>
      11. Add the line:
        Selection.PasteSpecial DataType:=wdPasteText
        so that it looks like this:
        Sub PasteUnformatted()
        \u2018
        \u2018 PasteUnformatted Macro
        \u2018
        \u2018
        Selection.PasteSpecial DataType:=wdPasteText
        End Sub<\/li>
      12. Close the editor, it will save automatically<\/li>
      13. Test out your new keystrokes.<\/li>
      14. Copy some text from a web-page<\/li>
      15. Navigate to Word 2003<\/li>
      16. Paste using the Ctrl-V<\/strong> keys then try using the button in the ribbon.<\/li>
      17. They should be different, unless the web-page was formatted exactly like your Word document.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        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!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \u2014\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        How-To-Show-The-Developer-Tab-In-Word-2007<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        1. Click on the Office Button<\/strong><\/li>
        2. Click on the Word Options<\/strong> button<\/li>
        3. Choose Popular<\/strong><\/li>
        4. There should be a check box next to \u201cShow Developer Tab in the Ribbon\u201d \u2014 Check that box<\/strong>.<\/li>
        5. Click OK<\/strong><\/li>
        6. The Developer tab should be in your Ribbon now.<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          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 … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wheatontech.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wheatontech.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wheatontech.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wheatontech.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wheatontech.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wheatontech.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77,"href":"https:\/\/wheatontech.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76\/revisions\/77"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wheatontech.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wheatontech.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wheatontech.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}