mike's web log/comments

Another quick post about Word, primarily for my own benefit (when I forget this later).

Word has several options for how you can paste text:

They are (in order):

• Keep Source Formatting. This option keeps the original formatting (both character and paragraph formatting), but converts it to direct formatting.


• Merge Formatting. This option copies basic character formatting (bold, italics, underline) as direct formatting, but does not copy any paragraph formatting.


• Use Destination Styles. This option copies the text and applies styles that are in the target document. (This option appears only if there matching styles in the target doc.)


• Keep Text Only. This option copies the text as plain text, with no formatting.

I need the last one (paste plain text) more often than any of the others, so I want it on a keyboard shortcut. You can do this by recording a macro of yourself using the Keep Text Only option. But I realized there's an even easier way—just assign a keyboard shortcut to the built-in PasteTextOnly command.

I keep forgetting that most anything Word can do has a command. If a gesture requires just one command, you can assign a keyboard shortcut directly to it. Maybe writing this out will help me remember.

Update I added a video!