Paste Special. Argh!
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Paste Special. Argh!
Ok, so the single most irritating thing about the Windows experience for me is..
Actually, no, the single most irritating thing about the Windows experience is that in 2006, some million years after the CD-ROM drive was invented, putting a new disc in will still lock up the OS whilst the drive spins up (why? why?).
The SECOND most irritating aspect of the Windows experience for me is as follows:
Every application, regardless of vendor, where multiple paste options are present, defaults to the most complex option for any given scenario. Pressing Ctrl-V no longer produces the predictable results it used to in the nineties. Nowadays, pressing Ctrl-V invariably results in some misexecuted bodge of a paste into Rich Text (Word, Notes) or HTML (Powerpoint) when I all want the damn thing to do is paste as plain text.
I've NEVER, EVER (as I recall) wanted to paste in anything other than plain text. I want to pick stuff up from point a, paste it to point b, and then format it (or have it assume the formatting of the destination, not the source).
Instead, the application tries to prove how clever it is (which it invariably isn't). All the options I've tried (including turning "Smart Cut and Paste" off, whatever that is, in Office) don't seem to make the slightest bit of difference.
Hence every paste includes a trip to the inappropriately named "Paste Special" menu. It's not Paste Special, it's Paste flippin' Ordinary I want!
The first person who comes up with a way of universally setting all Windows applications to default to a plain text paste will win my admiration and eternal gratitude.
Actually, no, the single most irritating thing about the Windows experience is that in 2006, some million years after the CD-ROM drive was invented, putting a new disc in will still lock up the OS whilst the drive spins up (why? why?).
The SECOND most irritating aspect of the Windows experience for me is as follows:
Every application, regardless of vendor, where multiple paste options are present, defaults to the most complex option for any given scenario. Pressing Ctrl-V no longer produces the predictable results it used to in the nineties. Nowadays, pressing Ctrl-V invariably results in some misexecuted bodge of a paste into Rich Text (Word, Notes) or HTML (Powerpoint) when I all want the damn thing to do is paste as plain text.
I've NEVER, EVER (as I recall) wanted to paste in anything other than plain text. I want to pick stuff up from point a, paste it to point b, and then format it (or have it assume the formatting of the destination, not the source).
Instead, the application tries to prove how clever it is (which it invariably isn't). All the options I've tried (including turning "Smart Cut and Paste" off, whatever that is, in Office) don't seem to make the slightest bit of difference.
Hence every paste includes a trip to the inappropriately named "Paste Special" menu. It's not Paste Special, it's Paste flippin' Ordinary I want!
The first person who comes up with a way of universally setting all Windows applications to default to a plain text paste will win my admiration and eternal gratitude.
Last edited by Polikarpov; 5th Jun 2006 at 16:16.
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Here's a few options:
1) paste everything into notepad first - this sure as hell strips out the formatting!
2) Use the Paste Options menu once you have pasted the selection (see the little paste icon beside the text you've just pasted?), then select Keep Text Only.
3) Record a Macro to do 2) -
This is how you can set up Word XP to insert unformatted text with a keystroke.
Henceforth, Ctrl-Z will act as a keyboard command to paste unformatted text.
The Macro is similar in Excel, but not identical (it’s all VBA - go figure…)
1) paste everything into notepad first - this sure as hell strips out the formatting!
2) Use the Paste Options menu once you have pasted the selection (see the little paste icon beside the text you've just pasted?), then select Keep Text Only.
3) Record a Macro to do 2) -
This is how you can set up Word XP to insert unformatted text with a keystroke.
- In Word, select some text and press Ctrl-C to copy it.
- Click Tools, Macro, Record New Macro.
- In the Macros dialog box's name field, enter PlainPaste.
- Click the Keyboard button to get the Customize Keyboard dialog box.
- In the 'Save changes in' drop-down menu, select normal.dot
- Put the cursor in the 'Press new shortcut key' field, and press Ctrl-Z (for example) as the shortcut key stroke.
- Click the Assign button, then Close.
- Now Paste the text – you should see the Paste Options icon in the bottom RH corner of the pasted text.
- Click the Down arrow on the Paste Options icon and select Keep Text Only
- Click the Stop Recording button (the solid square) on the Macro toolbar.
Henceforth, Ctrl-Z will act as a keyboard command to paste unformatted text.
The Macro is similar in Excel, but not identical (it’s all VBA - go figure…)
Too mean to buy a long personal title
Originally Posted by Saab Dastard
Put the cursor in the 'Press new shortcut key' field, and press Ctrl-Z (for example) as the shortcut key stroke.
Its usual function of "Undo" is extremely useful for rectifying those "What the ****'s the ****ing thing done now?" moments.
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Don't understand the problem. Have you got one of your settings screwed up?
I just tried copying the text from one of the posts.
Pasting into Word, it pastes as the default font (Times New Roman) if I used either the paste command, or Control-V. Which is what I'd expect.
The only option that offered me anything else such as RTF or HTML was "Paste Special"
I just tried copying the text from one of the posts.
Pasting into Word, it pastes as the default font (Times New Roman) if I used either the paste command, or Control-V. Which is what I'd expect.
The only option that offered me anything else such as RTF or HTML was "Paste Special"
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Blacksheep - selecting a bit of text that does not have inline formatting on the page (i.e. what might appear between HTML or Forum tags) and pasting into Word will just result in plain text, as there is no formatting information to copy. However, formatted content is a different matter.
From this thread, Ctrl-A to select all and then Ctrl-V to paste into Word.
On my systems (Office 2k on WinXP at home, Office XP at work), unless I'm using the new macro as detailed above, Word then tries to haul in every bit of HTML and graphic that it can find from the PPRuNe page and recreate it (badly) in a Word document. That's what bugs me.
If doing the above still only delivers plain text into your document I'd love to know how your system is configured!
Cheers, Polikarpov.
From this thread, Ctrl-A to select all and then Ctrl-V to paste into Word.
On my systems (Office 2k on WinXP at home, Office XP at work), unless I'm using the new macro as detailed above, Word then tries to haul in every bit of HTML and graphic that it can find from the PPRuNe page and recreate it (badly) in a Word document. That's what bugs me.
If doing the above still only delivers plain text into your document I'd love to know how your system is configured!
Cheers, Polikarpov.
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Ah, I see. But, copying an entire web page isn't exactly picking stuff up "from point a, paste it to point b and then format it". If you 'copy all' using Control A, then you're copying the content of a whole web page.
Because Word For Windows is an HTML editor, when you paste into Word using Control V it does actually do just what you say you want - assume the formatting of the destination and present it for editing. If you want to save the content of a web page as something else, then it is by definition, a special function. Hence the use of the 'paste special' command.
Which is why you can't use Control V and must set up another macro to perform the 'paste special - unformatted text' function, as Saab Dastard suggested.
Because Word For Windows is an HTML editor, when you paste into Word using Control V it does actually do just what you say you want - assume the formatting of the destination and present it for editing. If you want to save the content of a web page as something else, then it is by definition, a special function. Hence the use of the 'paste special' command.
Which is why you can't use Control V and must set up another macro to perform the 'paste special - unformatted text' function, as Saab Dastard suggested.
