Filed under: TUAW Tips
TUAW Tip: Paste without formatting by default
Here's something I know affects plenty of users out there. Have you ever pasted text in a document or email message, only to have it formatted differently than all the text around it? Irritating, right?
button under the list, type in the name of the appropriate menu items, and press ⌘-V in the Keyboard Shortcut box.
One note: Panic designer Neven Mrgan found that using this tip means you won't be able to paste images into iChat using Command + V. Dragging and dropping (or choosing Paste from the Edit menu) still works, though. Update: If you explicitly add ⌘-V in as a shortcut for Paste that's specific to iChat, you can restore the image paste capability without breaking the global shortcut.
Apps that don't have either of those menu items will still default to regular old "Paste" for the same key command. Paste away!
[Via @robotspacer, @chockenberry, and thaweesak.com.]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
catachip said 9:42PM on 7-07-2009
This blows my mind. What a great tip. I don't know how many times I either paste, then have to select all and go to font and change it all or delete it all and then go back and "Paste and Match Style". Thanks!
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nothngupmysleeve said 9:52PM on 7-07-2009
Amazing. This'll really come in handy.
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julian said 10:26PM on 7-07-2009
posts like this are why i keep coming back to tuaw!
thank you very much sir!
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David Hepburn said 10:00PM on 7-07-2009
Great tip guys! This will really come in handy. Pasting in differently formatted text gets so frustrating!
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N I T E said 10:14PM on 7-07-2009
5mp minimum please!
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N I T E said 10:16PM on 7-07-2009
5mp minimum please!
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N I T E said 10:18PM on 7-07-2009
My auto-login has gone crazy. Sorry for the above two 5mp comments!
But this tip is so damn useful!
Super thanks!!
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Josh said 10:19PM on 7-07-2009
Awesome tip. I should have thought about that. Thank you very much
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Andre said 11:11PM on 7-07-2009
Brilliant!
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Bryce said 11:16PM on 7-07-2009
Any chance we could do this shortcut-- "Paste WITH Formatting" to
Shift + Command + V
?
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floggy said 11:21PM on 7-07-2009
This tip is needless work. Just hit cmnd-opt-shift-v to paste without formatting.
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zeryck said 1:35AM on 7-08-2009
Actually, punching out that command several times a day is needless work. I find when my Paste doesn't match Style, it's much more annoying than when it does.
brian said 10:37AM on 7-08-2009
This tip is a LIFESAVER! I *never* want to paste with its original style, and the keyboard shortcut is different in different apps. Entourage 2008 is Option-Command-V, TextEdit is Shift-Option-Command-V, and Word 2004 doesn't HAVE a shortcut! Unfortunately, it only half-works in Entourage right now--pastes in the same font but different size. Oh well. The 'size' menu is much shorter than the 'font' menu. :-)
thezonie said 11:21PM on 7-07-2009
Excellent tip! I know I've had to go back and Paste and Match Style at least half a dozen times today. :)
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Caliber Stone said 11:31PM on 7-07-2009
Thanks for the tip TUAW! You are the greatest and don't let anyone tell you anything different. :-)
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illdave said 12:02AM on 7-08-2009
Thanks for this wonderful time-saving post. I've been using OS X since the beginning, yet was unaware of this feature.
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Magicpony said 12:14AM on 7-08-2009
Doesn't work for me. It still pastes formatted. Double clicking on other shortcuts doesn't open them for editing either. Any suggestions?
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Lo_Phat said 2:39AM on 7-08-2009
This does not work for me on 10.5.7 (intel)
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Lo_Phat said 2:43AM on 7-08-2009
MaisonElai, we feel your pain but at 2.27 am everything seems extreme.
I suggest you get some sleep & post us more info with a little coolr head..
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mahko said 3:45AM on 7-08-2009
i would LOVE for this to work, but it doesn't seem to be for me either. early 2008 MBP w/ 10.5.7 and all updates current.
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