Method 4: Using Third-Party Software on Windows They are also configurable, letting users set keyboard shortcuts to copy/paste plain text into their browser. They give you the option to either retain the original formatting by using the default ‘Copy’ option in your browser’s right-click context menu or copy just the plain text by using the ‘Copy Plain Text’ option. Using browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox is probably the easiest and cleanest method to copy/paste plain text online. On editors like WordPress, the extensions also add a ‘Paste PlainText’ option.

They both work pretty much the same way, by adding a ‘Copy PlainText’ or ‘Copy as Plain Text’ option, to the browser’s right-click context menu. The one I use on Firefox is Copy PlainText ( Free), while the best one on Chrome is Copy as Plain Text ( Free). There are multiple extensions for Firefox and Chrome that remove all formatting from the selected text before copy/pasting. The third option pastes the plain text into Word, stripped of all the formatting.

While the first one keeps the original formatting, the second one only keeps the basic formatting, like bold letters and bullet points, but changes the font to match your document. You get three options: ‘Keep Source Formatting,’ ‘Merge Formatting,’ and ‘Keep Text Only,’ as shown below. Once you’ve copied the target text with formatting, hit the Paste button on the MS Word ribbon. You can paste text without formatting into MS Word using a special ‘Paste’ option on the ribbon. However, this shortcut doesn’t work in MS Word, which uses a native method to paste plain text into the editor. On a Mac, press Command+Option+Shift+V to ‘paste and match formatting’ in a document. This method works in all major browsers while writing in WordPress, say for instance, and in most applications. To do that, press Ctrl+Shift+V to remove formatting instead of Ctrl+V on Windows. Using a keyboard shortcut is, by far, the easiest way to paste plain text without formatting on your computer. Using Notepad on Windows and TextEdit on Mac

Copy formatting shortcut