Paste text only not working in Word

[Valkenburg007]

Hi, I want to set the default paste option to 'Keep Text Only.' It's not working, despite going to Options>Advanced>Cut Copy and Paste>Keep Text Only. Can anyone help me work out how to set this up as a default?

[#2 · Accepted solution]

@Valkenburg007 

It has been reported in the past that Word may ignore that option unless you keep "Show Paste Options button" enabled.

Note that the Paste Options button may appear intrusive, but if you ignore it and continue typing it will hide by itself. Alternatively, you can press the ESC key to hide it immediately.

[#3]

@Stefan_Blom 

Hi Stegan,

Wow, it works! I enabled that option and I can now paste into Word without the copied selection's formatting. Thank you very much!

[#4]

@Valkenburg007 

I'm glad I could help.

Thanks for the feedback. :)

[#5]

Sorry, Stefan, I mistyped your name. Thanks again for your help :)

[#6]

@Stefan_Blom 

Stefan

I am having a similar issue as Valkenburg007, but your suggested solution is not working on my device. 

Steps I have taken:

1. I have gone into the Advanced settings and set all of the Paste Options to "Keep Text Only" while keeping the Paste Options Button enabled.

2. I tried toggling the Paste Options Button to the off/disabled position, that also did not work.  I turned it back on, but I am still not able to paste in plain text and have to manually select it from the Button to remove the Source Formatting. 

3. Shift+Ctrl+V does not work.

Thanks for your help

[#7]

@KatieDeMatt 

Which version of Word are you running (which may or may not be relevant in this situation)? 

1–2. When you paste in plain text format, the pasted text assumes the formatting at the insertion point. In other words, what you are seeing could be a sign that the formatting in the target document / target paragraph is something else. If you want to revert to the default font settings in the target paragraph, select the text and press Ctrl+SpaceBar.

3. Ctrl+Shift+V pastes formatting. You can only use it if you first selected some text and pressed Ctrl+Shift+C to copy the (font) formatting. 

If you want to, you can upload screen shots for illustration. Sharing a sample document may also be helpful.

[#8]

@KatieDeMatt 

What worked for me was that I had to turn off Use smart cut and paste. See if that helps to just keep the plain text.

[#9]

@Stefan_Blom 
That worked for me too.

But I must admit, it's pretty poor form from the developers to get the "Keep text only" to work, you have to check "Show Paste Options".

Maybe a smarter idea was to disable the Cut, copy, paste options until the "Show.." is checked.

Hopefully it will be fixed in future versions.

[#10]

@Darryl-Robertson 

It is of course confusing that you have enable the Paste Options button for Word to honor the default paste options. 

You can report the issue in your version of Word, via the Feedback facility (see https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/how-do-i-give-feedback-on-microsoft-365-2b102d44-b43f-4dd...).