Guide/Part Two · Write

Copy, paste & Paste Special

Paste keeps the source formatting by default. Paste Special lets you choose how much of it comes along.

Cut, Copy, and Paste are in the Edit menu and the right-click menu, with the usual shortcuts: Ctrl+X / ⌘X, Ctrl+C / ⌘C, Ctrl+V / ⌘V. When you paste formatted text, a small options bar appears just below the paste point. Its three buttons, Source, Merge, and Text, paste it again in one of these modes:

• Keep Source Formatting: the default; brings fonts, size, color, and emphasis.
• Merge Formatting: keeps emphasis, structure, and links but drops the source's fonts, sizes, colors, and highlighting, so the text matches your document.
• Keep Text Only: plain text (Ctrl+Shift+V / ⌘⇧V).

These modes are also under Edit ▸ Paste Special and in the right-click menu. The options bar goes away on your next keystroke or when you click elsewhere.