How to paste without formatting on Mac and Windows

Mac: Paste and Match Style

Press Option-Shift-Command-V. Apple calls it Paste and Match Style: the pasted text takes on the font, color and size of the text around it. Most apps also list it in the Edit menu. A few use their own wording, such as Paste and Match Formatting in Microsoft Word, and some web apps use Command-Shift-V instead.

Windows: Ctrl+Shift+V

Windows has no system-wide plain paste, but Ctrl+Shift+V is the closest thing to one. Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome and Firefox all support it, so it works on almost any web page and in web apps such as Google Docs and Teams. Word for Microsoft 365 and Office 2024 adopted it too, as Paste Text Only, and so has Outlook for Windows.

Ctrl+Shift+V does not paste plain text everywhere. In PowerPoint it still pastes formatting copied with Ctrl+Shift+C, Excel uses it for something else, and older Office versions use it for formatting too.

Word, Outlook and Excel when the shortcut fails

Every Office app has the same fallback. Paste normally with Ctrl+V, then click the Paste Options button that appears next to the pasted text, or press Ctrl, and choose Keep Text Only. From the keyboard, Alt, H, V, T does it in one go. Keep Text Only discards formatting, pictures and tables; tables become paragraphs.

1. 1Paste with Ctrl+V.
2. 2Press Ctrl to open Paste Options, or click the button beside the pasted text.
3. 3Press T, or click Keep Text Only.

Making plain text the default

If you almost never want formatting, change the default instead of remembering a shortcut. In Word for Windows, open File, Options, Advanced, and under Cut, copy, and paste, set Pasting from other programs to Keep Text Only. On a Mac you can swap the shortcuts for every app at once.

1. 1Open Apple menu, System Settings, Keyboard, Keyboard Shortcuts, then App Shortcuts.
2. 2Click the add button and choose All Applications.
3. 3Type Paste and Match Style as the menu title, exactly as it appears in the Edit menu.
4. 4Click the shortcut field, press Command-V, and click Done.

After this, Command-V pastes plain text in apps that have a Paste and Match Style menu item. In apps that do not, Command-V still pastes normally.

PowerToys Advanced Paste, for every Windows app

Microsoft's free PowerToys adds a plain paste that works in any app. Turn on Advanced Paste in PowerToys, then press Windows key + Ctrl + Alt + V to paste whatever is on the clipboard as plain text. It runs on your PC and does not use AI. Windows key + Shift + V opens the Advanced Paste window, which can also paste as Markdown or JSON.

Plain text from your clipboard history, with Clypy

When a copy carries formatting, Clypy keeps it alongside the plain text, so you decide each time you paste rather than when you copy. Press Command + Shift + V on a Mac or Ctrl + Shift + V on Windows and Linux to paste your newest clip as plain text in any app. In the Paste Strip, Option-Return on a Mac or Alt+Enter on Windows and Linux pastes the selected clip as plain text, and the clip menus in the strip and the library offer Paste as plain text.

While Clypy is running, its plain-text shortcut is Clypy's, and in most apps it does what the app's own Ctrl+Shift+V or Command-Shift-V would have done. If an app uses that shortcut for something else, rebind Clypy's in Settings, Shortcuts. On Wayland, Clypy copies the plain text and you press Ctrl+V. Unlimited local history is free; the Paste Strip is part of Clypy Pro.