• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Technipages

Tutorials and fixes for smartphone, gadget, and computer problems

  • Topics
    • Android
    • Gaming
    • Hardware
    • Internet
    • iOS
    • MacOS
    • Office
    • Software
    • Windows
    • Definitions
  • Product Reviews
  • Downloads
  • About Technipages
How to Clear Formatting in Word

How to Clear Formatting in Word

By Mel Hawthorne Leave a Comment

Microsoft Word is very flexible when it comes to the styling of the content that you write in it. For example, you can change the colour, font, size, styling, and more, all just for text. By default, when you copy text into Word, it maintains the styling from its source. In some cases, this can be perfectly fine, as you may have wanted that exact formatting. Unfortunately, this is also often not the case too, text from the web especially often comes in a slightly different font, size, colour, or even background colour and it can be annoying to deal with. Thankfully, there are a number of options to help you out.

How to clear the formatting in Word

If you’ve just copied some text into Word, there should be a small box just below and to the right of the pasted text that says “(Ctrl)”. Simply click the button or press the Ctrl key and you can configure the Paste Options for the pasted text. Your choices are to keep the source formatting, to attempt to merge the formatting with surrounding text, to import the text as a picture, or to strip all styling from the text respectively.

Tip: The box to change the Paste Option is only available until you next make a change to the document. After that, you need to re-paste the text to get the option back.

After pasting text, click the small box underneath and to the right of the text, and use the last option, “Keep Text Only”, to paste the text with no formatting.

If you want you can change the default Paste Option, you can do so by clicking “Set Default Paste” just under the Paste Options as described above. This will open Word’s settings to the location where you can configure the default paste behaviour for text.

You can change the default Paste Option if you tend to change it manually the majority of the time.

If you notice that throughout your document there are many changes in formatting that you don’t want to keep, you can choose to cut and paste the entire document, by pressing Ctrl + A, Ctrl + X, and Ctrl + V. Once, you’ve done so, simply change the Paste Option to “Keep Text Only” and all formatting in the document will be removed, except newlines and other white space characters.

Keep in mind that this will also erase any formatting you do want to keep too. While you can select, then cut and paste a set of paragraphs, they will only ever paste in a single group. Non-contiguous paragraphs won’t reformat themselves to go back exactly where they came from, if there was a paragraph you didn’t cut and paste in the middle it will be pushed to the end.

You Might Also Like

  • Google Sheets: Remove Formatting From Cells
    Google Sheets: Remove Formatting From Cells
  • Gmail: How to Change the Default Text Formatting
    Gmail: How to Change the Default Text Formatting
  • Word 2016 & 2013: Find Word Count
    Word 2016 & 2013: Find Word Count
  • How To Clear iCloud Storage
    How To Clear iCloud Storage
  • Clear iTunes Library and Playlists
    Clear iTunes Library and Playlists
  • How to Clear the Cache in Google Chrome
    How to Clear the Cache in Google Chrome
  • Windows: Clear Print Queue
    Windows: Clear Print Queue
  • Firefox: Clear Address Bar URL History
    Firefox: Clear Address Bar URL History
  • How To Clear YouTube Viewing History in App
    How To Clear YouTube Viewing History in App

Filed Under: Office

Reader Interactions

Did this help? Let us know!

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Windows 11: How to Fix Windows 11 Won’t Connect to a Network
  • What to Do When Firefox Won’t Load a Page
  • Chrome: How to Refresh Various Tabs Simultaneously
  • The Latest Foldable Phones – A Look At The Huawei Mate X2
  • Everything Announced at Google I/O 2022 That You Should Care About
  • How to Build the Best High-Spec PC for Your Budget
  • Google Shows Off Pixel 7 and Pixel Watch Ahead of Fall Launch
  • Windows 11: How to View Saved Passwords

Who’s Behind Technipages?

Baby and Daddy My name is Mitch Bartlett. I've been working in technology for over 20 years in a wide range of tech jobs from Tech Support to Software Testing. I started this site as a technical guide for myself and it has grown into what I hope is a useful reference for all.

You May Also Like

  • Microsoft Word
  • Word Processing Program

© Copyright 2022 Technipages · All Rights Reserved · Privacy