Create a Hotkey to Paste Plain Text in Microsoft Word

Create a Hotkey to Paste Plain Text in Microsoft Word

Pasting text from web pages into Microsoft Word can be a serious pain—all you wanted was the text, but it copies the formatting. Reader Wille writes in with a quick tip to make it simpler.

The official method for pasting plain text into Word is the Paste Special option, assigned to the Ctrl+Shift+V hotkey combination, but it opens a dialog and forces you to choose to paste plain text—a tedious irritation after using it repeatedly. Wille's method is to create a simple macro that pastes using unformatted text, and assign the same hotkey—a simple way to save time pasting text.

To create your own custom hotkey for pasting text, you'll need to follow a couple of steps:


  1. From the View tab, create a new macro named PasteSpecial.
  2. Replace the contents of the code editor with the following text:

    Sub PasteSpecial()
    Selection.PasteSpecial DataType:=wdPasteText
    End Sub

  3. From the Microsoft Office button in the upper left-hand corner, choose Word Options -> Customize, and then click the Customize button next to Keyboard shortcuts at the bottom to bring up the Customize Keyboard dialog.
  4. Choose Macros from the categories list on the left, and then your macro in the Commands box on the right-hand side. Now you can enter in a shortcut key (Ctrl+Shift+V or your own), and click the Assign button.
Once you've completed these steps, you'll be able to easily paste plain text in your document anytime with the keyboard shortcut. You can still access the Paste Special option from the Ribbon, but this tip should save you some time.

If you need to paste into other applications, previously mentioned Clipboard Text Scrubber removes formatting globally, or you can use PureText to strip formatting when you paste. Thanks, Wille!

Update: Reader MisterSlimm points out that he wrote the exact same macro a couple of years ago—we aren't sure if the submitted tip was actually based on his article, but he deserves the recognition for coming up with a great solution well before the rest of us! Great job, Slimm!