Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 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: Getting Rid of the Paste Options Box.

Getting Rid of the Paste Options Box

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 26, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 2000, 2002, and 2003

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:

Choose Options from the Tools menu. Word displays the Options dialog box.
Make sure the Edit tab is displayed. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Edit tab of the Options dialog box.

Clear the Show Paste Options check box.
Click OK.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (3338) applies to Microsoft Word 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Getting Rid of the Paste Options Box.

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...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Automatically Opening a Document at a Specific Zoom Setting

Do you prefer to have your documents open at a specific zoom magnification? You can get whatever magnification you desire ...

Discover More

Deleting All Comments

Got comments in your document? Want to get rid of them all? The easiest way to do so is going to depend on the complexity ...

Discover More

Omitting Page Numbers on Some Pages

Excel doesn't allow for as robust of headers and footers as Word does. Even so, there are some things you can do to ...

Discover More

Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2021 or Microsoft 365. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word Step by Step today!

More WordTips (menu)

Changing the Insertion Point Cursor

Want to change the characteristics of the insertion point used by Word? You may be out of luck, unless you make some ...

Discover More

Factory Default Settings for Word

Do you long for a way to reset Word to a "factory default" condition? It is almost impossible to get things to the way ...

Discover More

Changing Color of the Insertion Point

In your quest to customize Word, you may change the colors used to display your document. After doing so, it may become ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is seven less than 9?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.