Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Pasting Clean Text.

Pasting Clean Text

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 24, 2019)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

I paste a lot of text. (I mean a LOT of text.) When I am copying and pasting text within the same document, it is no problem. When I am copying text from other places, however, pasting that text into a Word document can have strange effects. This isn't a Word problem; it is something about the text I am copying and pasting that causes funky appearance of the text.

To get around this, I normally choose Edit | Paste Special and make sure that the text I am about to paste will be added to the document as unformatted text. Of course, since I paste so much text, continually choosing Edit | Paste Special can be bothersome.

The solution, for me, was to create a very short macro that does the pasting I want—as unformatted text. The following macro, PasteClean, does just that:

Sub PasteClean()
    Selection.PasteSpecial Link:=False, _
      DataType:=wdPasteText, _
      Placement:= wdInLine, _
      DisplayAsIcon:=False
End Sub

To make this macro an even more valuable editing tool, I assigned it to a custom tool on the toolbar. Now, when I want to paste a clean copy of what text is in the Clipboard, I simply click the tool and the macro does the rest.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the WordTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1310) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Pasting Clean Text.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

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What is two more than 2?

2022-07-27 00:51:32

Hereward Dundas-Taylor

Thank you! I have been chasing such a macro for about 10 years! Woppeeee!

2019-12-12 10:19:01

Michel Phillips

A text expander called FastKeys has paste-unformatted built in, using Alt+V. Both its text expansion and its paste-unformatted function work in Word, and in all other programs. I have no relationship with, and receive nothing from FastKeys; I'm just a satisfied customer. Unfortunately it is Windows-only; no Mac version.

2019-09-23 13:39:08

Vasile Bujder

To make this macro an even more valuable editing tool, you can assign a keyboard shortcut to it. I use Alt+V (similar to Ctrl+V).

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