How do I paste text without its formatting?

Text you copy from a website, email or another document often brings its own font, size and color with it. Paste Options lets you choose how much of that comes along.

Choose right after you paste

1. Click in the text box where you want the text.
2. Press Ctrl+V (Cmd+V on a Mac). A small Paste Options button appears at the end of the pasted text.
3. Click the button, or press and release Ctrl by itself.
4. Choose one of these:
   • Keep Source Formatting keeps the look the text had where you copied it.
   • Merge Formatting uses the font, size and color where you pasted, but keeps bold, italic and underline.
   • Keep Text Only pastes plain text with no formatting, so it matches the text around it.

The button goes away when you keep typing or click somewhere else. Your choice stays.

Choose before you paste

1. Click in the text box where you want the text.
2. Click the Home tab.
3. In the Clipboard group, click the word Paste (under the icon) to open its list.
4. Choose Keep Source Formatting, Merge Formatting or Keep Text Only.

Clicking the Paste icon itself pastes with the source formatting.

If it still looks wrong

Which option should I use?

For text from a website, an email or a spreadsheet, Keep Text Only is usually best. It brings in just the words, and they take on the font of your publication.

The Paste Options button went away before I could use it

Press Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on a Mac) to undo the paste, then paste again from Home > Paste and pick the option you want.