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

Remove unwanted formatting with Paste Special; put quick tab options to work.

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How 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.

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