Getting Rid of the Paste Options Box

Summary: Paste something in a Word document, and you may notice a dynamic little set of options appear right next to what you pasted. If you find these "paste options" distracting, you can configure Word so that they aren't displayed. (This tip works with Microsoft Word 2000, Word 2002, Word 2003, and Word 2007.)

If you copy and paste information from place to place in a document, you may have noticed that whenever you complete a paste operation, Word helpfully displays a "paste options" tool right next to whatever you pasted. Use this tool and you can apply some variations to what you pasted.

Some people find the paste options to be distracting in some versions of Word. (The appearance of the paste options tool is different in different versions of Word.) Fortunately for them, Word allows you to turn them off. Follow these steps if you are using a version of Word prior to Word 2007:

Choose Options from the Tools menu. Word displays the Options dialog box.
Make sure the Edit tab is displayed. (Click here to see a related figure.)
Clear the Show Paste Options check box.
Click OK.

If you are using Word 2007 then the steps are slightly different:

Click the Office button and then click Word Options. Word displays the Word Options dialog box.
Click Advanced at the left side of the dialog box.
Scroll through the available options until you get to the Cut, Copy, and Paste section. (Click here to see a related figure.)
Clear the Show Paste Options Buttons check box.
Click OK.

Tip #3338 applies to Microsoft Word versions: 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

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Getting Rid of the Paste Options Box