If you’re pasting text from one application to another, it can get infuriating when the formatting from the copied text gets transported into the target document. If you copy text from an email into Word, for example–or vice versa–you can end up with clashing styles that take an unnecessary amount of time to tidy up. Extra bolds and italics where you don’t want it. Different-sized fonts.
MacOS also has an option for Paste and Match Style. In the vast majority of cases, that’s what I actually want to do. It’s different from the regular paste in that it takes its formatting the cue from the text you’re pasting into rather than the text you’re pasting from.
Out of the box, there are two options. You can right click on the target document and choose Paste and Match Style from the list. Or you can use the standard keyboard shortcut Command + Option + Shift + V, which involves both remembering the combination and some digit dexterity.
But there’s a third option: overriding the default paste behavior. Here’s how you do it:
Open system preferences and choose Keyboard.
Choose the Shortcuts tab from the top. In the list at left, choose App Shortcuts. Click on the + symbol.
Set the application/s. From the Application drop-down menu, choose All Applications (or you can specify and individual application, like Mail, if you prefer).
In the Menu Title field, enter “Paste and Match Style”. Enter it exactly as is. It’s not asking you make up a name–it’s asking you for the exact name of the existing menu command.
In the Keyboard Shortcut field, press Command + V (or whatever shortcut you want to use). That will capture the new shortcut. Command + V will override the regular paste command. You can also specify a different keyboard shortcut if you’d like to have the option of both.
Click the Add button.
You’ll then see it added to the list of available shortcuts.
Each time you use it might only save you a second or two, but those add up.
But there are, unfortunately, some instances where it doesn’t work as expected. So your mileage might vary. If you find that it’s doing some odd things, you can simply remove the shortcut by highlighting it in the list of available shortcuts and then hitting the minus button. Or you can take a more targeted approach to assign it to apply only when using specific applications rather than globally for all applications.
I’ve used this in versions up to and including Catalina.
Jimmy says
There should be a way to just Copy Plain Text without formatting.
Then you paste it anywhere as plain text. Seems like all these workarounds (most don’t work) are clunky and based on having to remove formatting info before pasting.
Would be much better to acquire the text without formatting. I am constantly copy/pasting from Excel for Mac 2019 to a chat app. I get a pop up when the chat app detects non plain text with an option to paste as text or a picture. Every time I paste (100’s per day) I have to click a choice with my mouse. Waste of time and energy.
Liz says
Hi
I have been using Command + Option + Shift + V for years, so I am quite used to it. I do it automatically.
But I must have recently done something, somewhere, to mess things up in Text Edit.
When I use those commands, I hear a “bump!” kind of sound and the text does not appear. But if I go to the drop-down menu and click a paste-and-match style, THEN the text appears. This is very clunky!
Can you guess what I did and how I can undo it? Please?
I COULD try your suggestion (all the illustrations help a lot) but since my fingers are already trained I would rather go back to Command + Option + Shift + V.
(If I just use Command V then the text looks like page I took it from, so whatever I did, recently-ish, it was not what you were suggesting here.)
Thank you!
Liz
Makenzie says
LIz,
I would just do exactly what the article above says, but instead of making the shortcut to be command+V, just enter the shortcut as “Command + Option + Shift + V”
I don’t know- might work!
Rico says
Hej Liz,
i’ve been using that shortcut for ages. Recently, I’ve been getting that “bump” sound too. Maybe since we have switched to MacOS Catalina… I’ve updated to Big Sur today and it’s still here.
I suspect that Apple has changed something so that it now only works with apps that have the “Paste and Match Style” option under “Edit”. For example, it does work in Chrome, where this option exist, but not in Notion where this option is absent.
I’ll try what the author is proposing above. Thanks David!
__
Including my search history so others cant find this article
– pasting unformatted text not working in some apps mac
– mac paste without formatting not working
– mac paste plain not working
JerryCPP says
I am probably the lest knowledgeable computer user in existence. iMac Catalina. This problem has been driving me nuts for years, but tonight was the crowning disaster. Nothing I tried would allow me to paste from email without totally messing up more than 500 pages of a document. I tried your suggestion, and IT WORKED! Thank you! (I’m old enough to have used Word Perfect 5.1 for DOS. That program allowed you to show every code used; you could remove or add or change any of them at will. Microsoft bought Word Perfect and shut it down.)
David says
Glad it worked. And I remember WordPerfect 5.1 well! It was the first word processor I used on a computer (before that I used hybrid electronic typewriters).
DEANNA SATRE says
I wasn’t able to make the “Past and Match” or the “Paste and Match Formatting” or the “Paste and Match Style” titles work–all of which are recommended either by a commenter here or elsewhere on the internet. However, I was finally successful with the awkward but successful keystroke Command + Option + Shift + V. I regret that the much simpler Paste and Match as described here did not work on my Macbook Pro (High Sierra) with Word 2011, but I do appreciate how well documented the process is on this site.
Tyler says
You now have to name the command “Paste and Match Formatting” since that’s the recognized command – at least for Microsoft Word/Excel/PPT in Macs.
TSK says
Found that I needed to re-assign normal paste to another shortcut (in my case Control + V) before the Command + V would actually be recognised.
Lev says
Thank Tyler! Big help!
Was unsuccessfully trying to use “Paste and Match Style” for this shorcut on macbook Pro for some time. Your “Paste and Match Formatting” works perfectly well!
Dafna says
Thank you Tyler!
I tried, much like Lev, to use “Paste and Match Style” and failed, but “Paste and Match Formatting” did the trick.
However I also tried to use the same principle and write “Paste and Keep Text Only” but it did not worked… Any chance someone know how it can work?
(I tried it on Macbook Pro, macOS Catalina 10.15.5, Word 16.41)
Bedford says
Tried the keyboard shortcut for paste without formatting, using 2015 macbook pro, running mojave, it doesn’t seem to work with ms outlook 16.36, I’ll try shutting down and later starting the mb to see if it took, but as of now, it’s bringing formatting from a pdf.
jerome bocquee says
Hi,
I followed the steps but now when i hit “commandV” it pastes -> “Paste and Match Style”.
Those exact words, “Paste and Match Style”.
Did I do something wrong?
macOS Catalina Version 10.15.4
Thanks
J
sirozha says
It doesn’t work for me in Catalina either
David says
Interesting. I just tried it myself in Catalina (10.15.5), and it’s still working for me. Not sure what would be causing it not to work in some instances.
Doug says
What a great article with effectively positioned screen shots. Most of all, it guides you to a workable solution! My use case was copy/paste between MS Excel 2016 and the Notes App on macOS Catalina. A nice alternative to Option-Shift-Command-V. Thank you for taking the time to write and publish it!
Trevor says
Can’t thank you enough for this. Solved a gmail cut/paste problem I have been having for months!
Claudia says
Exactly what I was looking for – thank you sooo much!
Sean Imler says
Thank you!!
Bri says
Thank you for posting this, David! I went down a Gmail Help rabbit hole trying to figure out how to resolve the issue of copy/paste font formatting changes when working in email reply drafts (which has been bugging me for months!). I found a couple suggestions that provided a workaround but no actual fix. Your solution, however, does fix the issue. Woohoo!
David says
Hi Bri, Glad you find it helpful!
Rashed Nessar says
Thanks alot.
Frank Hill says
Thank you!
Rory says
Shift+Cmd+V already does this by default on macs.
David says
Depending on the app, that gives you a Paste Special dialog box, where you can choose the format of the text. The direct Paste and Match Style keyboard shortcut is Option-Shift-Command-V, which is a combination I find difficult to do without stopping to look at the keyboard.
hanna says
THANK YOU!!!
Nigel Thompson says
Brilliant
I was going nuts pasting unreadable URLs
All fixed now!
ian says
In case you are trying to get this to work in Excel rather than Word…
This fix would not work for Excel v16 on Mac running Mojave – but then I discovered if you double-click rather than a single click when you select the destination cell – it works fine!
David says
Great tip–thanks!
Nelsor says
Thank you that works!
Kat Pusz says
Thank you!
Rob says
After years of searching this fixed my default paste font in Scrivener. Thank you so much.
David says
Glad it’s useful. And yes, the pasting into the rich text editor of Scrivener has been one of my pet peeves, especially since I much prefer to write in plaintext Markdown rather than formatted rich text.
Chris says
Thanks, David! I love that there’s another anal-retentive person on this planet that hates formatting issues when C&P!!!
If I had to change Calibri back to Arial in Outlook for Mac one more time….
Thanks!
Florida Wilson says
I have been tried a lot to Set ‘Paste and Match Style’ as Default on Mac OSX but every time I failed to do that. Recently io bought Macbook pro and I was facing problem to Activate iPhone without apple id then I took help through https://www.iphonesupportnumber.com/blog/how-to-activate-iphone-without-apple-id/ they help me a lot. Thanks for sharing this post.
Duygu Mengioğlu Neşeli says
Here is the definite solution for all versions: -Select a cell and copy it. -Tools-Macros-record new macro. -Specify a shortcut, for example option+command+b -Click enter -focus on any empty cell and click “control+v”, then select “paste and style formatting” in the options. -Go to Tools-Macros-Stop Macro. -Next, download and install bettertouchtool. -Go to preferences-keyboard. -Add new shortcut. Enter command+v in the shortcut field and enter option+command+b in the triggered shortcut field. -Done.
Dima says
One of the most useful shortcuts. Lots of thanks!
vivek says
Works perfectly
Adaminspace says
Doesn’t seem to work just copy/paste within a Pages Doc. Driving me crazy!
Johan Samso says
I couldn’t get this to work on my Mac. Maybe because it’s running in Swedish. However, I found a cheap app that does it perfectly. Plain text copy: https://itunes.apple.com/se/app/plain-text-copy/id1297888715
Dmitry Zakharov says
Oh my God this is the best thing. Thank you so much.
Lynn says
Sadly doesn’t work for Excel 2016 on Mac. OS Sierra. If anyone has gotten it to work for Excel 2016 on Mac please post a reply. Thanks.
Corry says
Looked like this might be the answer but I can’t get it to work for Excel 2016 on a Mac. Has anyone got this working for Excel 2016?
gumpyOldguy says
Thanks much for this. The problem that needs asking though is why Apple chooses such poor defaults. And the answer is: if they didn’t turn on all their bad ideas by default, no one would ever bother to turn them on, except the programmers who made them, and they would stay turned off, where they belong.
M0J0CHICKEN says
My sentiments exactly (they are truly some backwards-thinking people)! Fire them all and start fresh is my advice for Apple Executive Leadership, who probably need some refreshing as well. I have Excel 2017 for Mac, and what finally worked for me is exactly what OP instructs, except in the Menu Title field, enter “Paste and Match Destination Formatting”. YMMV but try it out. Hope it works for some of you, too.
chirochick says
It’s taken me some serious woman hours to figure this problem out. You are a star! Why is this not plastered all over the Microsoft forums? It’s such a common and frustrating problem.
Tyler says
You can do this by editing the keyboard shortcuts in the newer Microsoft Word programs. Just go to Tools, Keyboard Commands, find PasteText, and then assign that to Command+V and Boom. Saved your life right there.
Greg S says
Thank you! Perfect fix for something I knew how to do in Windows but not in Mac
Will says
Thank you for this.
chirochick says
It was your fix that helped me Tyler; my reply above was supposed to go here. Thank you! So simple when you know how!!!!
Wayynnee says
Thanks a lot for this, actually worked!
David says
This worked for me on MS 2016 Mac, although under Tools/Cutomize keyboard
Jon says
That’s what I was after. Thanks
Jasmine Puri says
god bless
Jack Bochsler says
Bless you – why is this not the default? Who EVER wanted the original style preserved?
Linda says
Saved a world of time and frustration – thank you.
John says
Running Word for Mac 15.28 (Office 365) on Sierra 10.12.1
Cannot get this shortcut to work for some reason. Tired both “Paste and Match Style” and “Paste and Match Destination Formatting” without success.
Great tip for those that can get it to work, though. Would love to figure out what I’m doing wrong.
Sophie Béraud says
OMG life saver!! And I also added your CMD+P shortcut for print to PDF. Brilliant. Thanks a million!!
Ryan says
Wow I have really been needing this! You rock!
Lise says
This is brilliant! Thank you for sharing. (I had to use “Paste and Match Formatting” instead of “…Style” to make it work, but it works beautifully now!)
Irene says
Hi, it worked for me.
Thank you so much!
Irene
Grace says
Doesn’t work
Tyler says
Go to Tools, keyboard shortcuts, add PasteText, Assign it to Command + V, and press assign and there ya go! Problem solved!
Siri says
Thank you!!!!!
Darell says
Oh man. THIS fixed it!
Marc says
Not working. Have also tried “Paste and Match Formatting” and “Paste and Match Destination Formatting”. Very frustrating
Mustapha says
Didn’t worked for me and still struggling
Billy Shall says
Hello, This worked as expected for pasting into an email but it will not allow you to paste text into OSX Mail’s search field for some reason.
LSonna says
Didn’t work for me, but I’ve got a slightly different problem with el Capitan 10.11.6. In Chrome and Word, I can’t highlight text that I want to copy and paste.
Rob says
On my mac doing this meant that I could not paste an email address into the address field on mac mail.
David says
Interesting. Thanks for the tip. I’ve come across a few odd behaviors from time to time.
Lake says
What if you just want to paste the style (not the content)?
ms says
“Paste and Match Formatting” for Word 15
Kyle says
Searching all of the internet “Paste and Match Style” wasn’t working for me. I finally found the answer in your comment, THANK YOU!
KB says
In word 365 – you need to now add “Paste and Match Destination Formatting” – FYI. I edit resumes and so this comes in handy. thanks!
pm&[email protected] says
Thank so very much… it works great! It was driving crazy using almost every finger plus another hand just to do this simple task. For me it is not so much about saving time, but saving my sanity. :)
MGaviria says
You may also change the shortcut only for a given application, e.g. Pages, which I did now. So far I’m happy with this.
evankirsh says
It would work, except now you can’t paste into fields that are plain text only, such as the address field. When you try to Paste and Match Style (command+v), you just get an “oops” chime because that’s not an option for that field. So, the workaround would be to assign another easy shortcut for the standard Paste for those annoying circumstances.
Evgeniy says
Thanks a lot!
Bill aka InMyImage says
THANK YOU!!!