Microsoft Word offers a handful of special methods for pasting text and other content into your document. But if you find yourself almost always using the same paste option, you can change the setting to be the default. This allows you to save a step with each paste.
We’ll walk you through the options you can set as default when pasting text. Also, we’ll show you some other useful settings to make pasting into your Word document faster and easier.
Open the Default Paste Settings in Word
The first step in adjusting the default paste settings is to access it. Do the following in an open Word document.
- Click on File > Choices.
- Choose Advanced On the left side.
- Scroll down to the section “Cut, copy and paste“.
Alternatively, you can click the drop-down arrow Paste of the tab Beginning and choose Set Paste Default.
Adjust Paste Settings
Now that you have the default settings open, it’s time to adjust the paste options to suit your needs.
- Paste within the same document
- Paste between documents
- Paste between documents when there is conflict between style definitions
- Paste from other applications
For each of the pasting options above, you can choose to keep the source format, merge the format, or keep it as text only. When the style definitions conflict, you can also choose to use the target styles.
You can change any or all of the above to handle the way you paste the text. When done, click To accept or take a look at more pasting options below.
Additional gluing options
Insert or paste images as: If you paste a lot of images into your documents, consider changing this option. This allows you to choose how to align the text with the image you are pasting. Thus, you can choose between options such as in line with the text, behind the text or in front of the text.
Preserve bullets and numbers when pasting text with Concern text only option: By using the Keep Text Only paste option, you can save yourself having to format the pasted lists from scratch.
Use the Insert key to paste and Show Paste Options button when pasting content: Check or uncheck these options according to your preferences.
Use smart cut and paste: If you activate this option, the format of the content you paste will match that of the destination document. Also, you can customize the options by clicking Setting.
In the pop-up window, you have individual options that you can check or uncheck according to your preferences. These options include automatically adjusting the spacing between sentences, words, and paragraphs, merging the formatting when pasting from PowerPoint, and adjusting the formatting when pasting from Excel.
Once you’ve set the individual options for smart cut and paste, click To accept. Make sure to click again To accept in the Word Options window to apply all the changes.
Unique Paste Special in Word
Even if you select the default settings for pasting text and images into Word, you can choose a different option when you need to. Use one of these actions for a different paste method:
- Click on the drop-down box Paste of the tab Beginning and choose an option.
- Right-click and choose a paste option in the context menu.
- Click the button Paste Options (if previously enabled) and choose an option.
Save a step or two when pasting into Word
Whether you want to always paste content as plain text or keep the formatting of where you’re pasting, consider adjusting the default paste settings in Word. This can save you a step or two each time you paste. Also, you can select a different paste option when you need it.
