How to Paste Special in Microsoft Word

Techwalla may earn compensation through affiliate links in this story. Learn more about our affiliate and product review process here.
Word's Paste Special option is under the Home menu.
Image Credit: Image courtesy of Microsoft.

If the content you paste into Microsoft Word 2013 doesn't look quite the way you want it to, you can change how it is formatted while pasting in two ways. You can use the Paste Special option or select one of Word's Paste Options. If you like to use keyboard shortcuts to copy and paste, you can also change the way Word responds to your "Ctrl-V" paste command based on the source of the copied content.

Advertisement

Using Paste Special

Video of the Day

Step 1

Paste Special appears under the Paste icon.
Image Credit: Image courtesy of Microsoft.

Copy any data, text or photo. Click the "Home" menu above your Word document, select "Paste" and click the "Paste Special" option. This opens the Paste Special window, which shows you the available options based on the copied material.

Advertisement

Video of the Day

Step 2

Paste Special displays the available options.
Image Credit: Image courtesy of Microsoft.

Select the paste option you want among the available options. If you copied part of a Web page, for example, you can paste the content in HTML format, or as plain text.

Advertisement

Step 3

Word displays the pasted content in HTML format.
Image Credit: Image courtesy of Microsoft.

Examine the content you pasted and format it as needed. If it doesn't look the way you expected, press "Ctrl-Z" to undo the paste and try again with a different format. HTML format from a website, for example, seldom looks the same in Word as it did online.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Using Paste Options

Step 1

Paste options appear when you right-click the document.
Image Credit: Image courtesy of Microsoft.

Right-click anywhere on your Word document after copying something to reveal Word's Paste Options. You can also find the Paste options by clicking the "Paste" button under the Home menu, or by clicking the "Ctrl" button that appears after pasting text using "Ctrl-V."

Advertisement

Step 2

An example of Keep Source Formatting from a copied HTML page.
Image Credit: Image courtesy of Microsoft.

Hover the mouse over any of the three Paste Option icons to see how it will display in your document. Click the option you like the best. The first icon is the Keep Source Formatting option, which pastes text with the same font, font size and paragraph style as it had when you copied it.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Step 3

HTML content pasted using the Merge Formatting option.
Image Credit: Image courtesy of Microsoft.

Select the second, "Merge Formatting" icon to merge the copied text's formatting with the formatting currently used in your Word document. In most cases, the copied text's formatting is completely replaced with the Word document's formatting.

Advertisement

Step 4

This text was pasted with the Text Only option.
Image Credit: Image courtesy of Microsoft.

Select the the third, "Text Only" icon to paste the copied text completely stripped of its formatting.

Advertisement

Changing Default Paste Options

Step 1

The "Ctrl" button is located to the bottom right of your pasted content.
Image Credit: Image courtesy of Microsoft.

Copy any text to your clipboard by pressing "Ctrl-C," then pres "Ctrl-V" to paste it into your Word document. A "Ctrl" button appears in the bottom-right corner.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Step 2

Select the "Set Default Paste" option.
Image Credit: Image courtesy of Microsoft.

Click the "Ctrl" button. Click the "Set Default Paste" link beneath the Paste Options. This opens the Advanced Word Options window. A slower way to open this same window is to click the "File" tab, select "Options," then "Advanced."

Advertisement

Step 3

Specify your paste options.
Image Credit: Image courtesy of Microsoft.

Scroll down to the Cut, Copy and Paste section of the Advanced Word Options. Click each menu to specify what you want "Ctrl-V" to do under different circumstances: keep source formatting, merge formatting, or keep text only. Click "OK" to save your changes and return to your Word document.

Advertisement

Advertisement

references