Sometimes we just want to duplicate existing formatting in some other text.
Fortunately, there are already standard keyboard shortcuts in Word to do this that deal with formatting beyond just applying bold, italics, or styles to text. I wasn’t aware of them for a long time, so I thought I’d pass the information along.
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Copying and paste formatting (including styles)
Sometimes we just want to copy the same formatting to other text. Doesn’t sound like too much to ask, right?
Shortcut keys
In Word for Mac, use Command+Shift+C to copy the formatting including any styles. Then use Command+Shift+V to paste the formatting over some other text.
In Windows, use Control+Shift+C and Control+Shift+V instead.
Of course, you can customize these shortcuts if you prefer other key combinations (see previous article for Mac or this video for Windows). I changed them to Command+Option+C or V because I use Command+Shift+C to copy a whole paragraph.
How it works …
The commands work with both character and paragraph formatting at the same time with some reasonably intuitive conditions based on whether there is a selection and whether a paragraph mark is included in any selection.
Pasting character formatting
Pasting formatting to selected text without a paragraph mark included will apply the character formatting to the text, but it will also include any relevant character formatting from the copied paragraph style. No paragraph specific formatting or styles of the parent paragraph will change.
Pasting with no selection
If there is no selection, pasted formatting will automatically apply to the current word and/or the current paragraph as appropriate.
What about no formatting?
The commands won’t copy or paste “no formatting.” See below for how to remove formatting.
But I want XYZ to happen …
Of course, you could also write a macro to carry out the actions as you wish.
For example, you might want your version to automatically select the current paragraph if there is no starting selection or skip heading styles when applying formatting to several paragraphs. I include the former in the extended content below, and an upcoming members’ article will talk about the latter.
Use styles instead?
If you have consistent blocks of text with the same formatting, you should consider using styles instead, but copying and pasting formatting works great in a pinch. It will also copy styles between text elements.
Paste unformatted text
Sometimes we have text in the clipboard we want to paste somewhere without including any of the formatting.
The regular keyboard shortcuts Command+V in Word for Mac or Control+V in Windows just pastes whatever is in the Clipboard and lets the application decide what to do with it.
Mac
Macs have a standard system wide keyboard shortcut Command+Control+V to paste unformatted text. I use it regularly when working on my MacBook.
Windows
In Windows, some apps use Control+Shift+V, but it’s not standardized. In Microsoft Word, for example, that keyboard shortcut pastes formatting not unformatted text.
Install Windows PowerToys (all Windows apps)
For a Windows-wide solution, an easy fix is to install Windows PowerToys. It adds a whole stack of cool and useful tools to Windows which are outside the scope of today’s newsletter, but one of those is a new default keyboard shortcut Control+Alt+V to paste unformatted text.
Assign a keyboard shortcut (Word specific)
Inside Word, you can assign a keyboard shortcut to the PasteTextOnly standard Word command.
See another article on how to automatically add keyboard shortcuts for macros or even standard Word commands. It’s much easier to organize them this way, and it comes in handy if something glitches and you have to reset the custom shortcuts (which has happened a few times to me).
Mac
Select the Tools → Customize Keyboard … menu option to bring up a dialog to make the changes (see previous article for details).
Windows
Select File → Options → Customize Ribbon. Then click the Customize Keyboard shortcuts … button to access the equivalent dialog (see video for details).
That’s buried a little too deep in the interface.
Menu-based approaches (Word in either OS)
If you’re reading this, I suspect you wanted to know the above keyboard shortcut solutions, but for completeness, the menu-based approaches in either Word for Mac or Windows are:
Edit → Paste Special … and select the Unformatted Text option.
Also right clicking (also Control+Click on a Mac) anywhere in a document brings up the context menu with a Paste Special … option.
Improvements
Paste unformatted text
If you prefer, here is a simple macro to paste unformatted text.
Of course, you can assign this to almost any keyboard shortcut you wish.
This is trivial by itself, but I left it in the article case you wanted to use it as a springboard for you to tweak for some other features you’re interested in implementing. I regularly mention making Word work your way.
Let me know if you use it to do anything else. I’d love to hear it.
