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Word Processing Tips: Isn't That Special? Paste Without Formatting

Isn't That Special? Paste Without FormattingGeorge CampbellHow often does this happen to you? You copy text from one Word or WordPerfect document to another, but the text you move doesn't match the font, size, or color of the destination document. So you reselect the text you just pasted and reformat it--and you do this time after time after time. There's a much simpler option: Think "Paste Special".First, remove the formatting from the text you want to copy. Select the block of text in the source document and choose Edit, Copy (or press Ctrl-C) to copy it to the clipboard as usual. Switch to the destination document, position the cursor where you want the text to appear, and select Edit, Paste Special. Choose Unformatted Text in the Paste Special dialog box, then click OK. All applied formatting disappears, leaving the text in the default style of the destination document.Hint: You can use this technique to unformat an entire document. Press Ctrl-A to select the whole shebang, then copy and paste it into a blank document using the same Edit, Paste Special option. This technique can also be used to remove unwanted HTML formatting from URLs. Highlight the URL and choose Edit, Cut. Then, without moving the cursor, select Edit, Paste Special, Unformatted Text to restore the URL without the blue type and underlining that indicate a link.Quick Tab OptionsYou can install a tab stop and choose its characteristics in one operation. (If the horizontal ruler isn't visible, choose View, Ruler in Word or WordPerfect.)Word 97 and 2000: To set a new tab stop and tab options, double-click where you want the tab to be (use the lower portion of the ruler). This displays the Tabs dialog box. Choose an Alignment and a Leader (if desired), adjust the "Tab stop position", and click OK. To modify the settings of an existing tab stop, move the mouse pointer over the tab marker on the ruler and wait to see a box identifying the tab type. Then, in Word 97, double-right-click to display the Tabs dialog box. In Word 2000, double-click with either mouse button. To remove an existing tab, position the mouse pointer over the tab marker on the ruler, then click and drag the marker off the ruler and onto the document window.WordPerfect 8 and 9: To set a new tab stop, right-click anywhere in the tab area of the ruler, pick the type of tab you want from the context menu, and click where you want the tab stop to appear. To modify an existing tab, right-click to set a new tab type as described above, and click the tab. To remove a tab stop, click and drag it off the ruler and onto the document window.Save Paper in Word 2000If you want to create a reference copy of a long document, why not print several pages on a single sheet of paper? Here's how to diminish your load and save a tree.Open the document in Word 2000 and select File, Print, just as you normally do. When the Print dialog box appears, drop down the "Pages per sheet" list in the bottom-right corner, choose 4 pages, then click OK. Your document will print with four pages on each sheet. (More than that per sheet is difficult to read.) Little-Known Character Shortcuts In WordWhen you need a special character, it's fairly easy to choose Insert, Symbol and select the character in the resulting dialog box. But if you use a particular special character frequently, you can save time and effort by using one of Word's built-in keyboard shortcuts. The table presented in this figure shows the shortcut keystrokes of several commonly used characters.Get More Editing SpaceIf you need just a bit more editing space in a Word or WordPerfect document window, two quick fixes will add it without affecting the word processing features you use most. If the rulers are displayed, select View, Ruler to shut them off. If you're using Word, hide the status bar: Select Tools, Options, and under the View tab, deselect Status bar; then click OK. In WordPerfect, you can hide the Application bar at the bottom of the window by right-clicking it and selecting Hide Application Bar in the context menu.

Send your questions and tips to george_campbell@pcworld.com. We pay $50 for published items. Visit Contributing Editor George Campbell at www.osomin.com.

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