About the format of pasted information

When you paste information into Microsoft Word, you can decide how it is formatted in most cases.

Determining formatting options

The Paste Options button appears just below your pasted selection after you paste text. When you click the button, a list appears that lets you decide how the information is pasted into your document.

The available options depend on the type of content you are pasting, the program you are pasting from, and the format of the text where you are pasting.

For example, if you are pasting list items near a list, you can decide whether the pasted text is included in the list or is pasted as a new list. If you are pasting into a paragraph, you can decide whether the text keeps its original formatting or is formatted like surrounding text.

If you are pasting data from Microsoft Excel, you can specify whether or not you want to link the data, and how you want to format the data.

Pasting information to or from other programs

Information you cut or copy to another program is pasted, if possible, in a format that the program can edit.

For example, data from Microsoft Excel worksheets and records from Microsoft Access are pasted by default into Word as Word tables, complete with column widths and font formatting. Text separated by tab characters from Word is pasted into Excel in rows and columns of cells.

If a program can't edit the information, it inserts it as an embedded object. You can use the source program to edit embedded objects. If the information can't be inserted, it is pasted as a static picture that cannot be edited.

The default format of pasted text

The default format of pasted text can be affected by whether or not you include a paragraph mark or section break in your selection, although you can change many formatting attributes as you paste with the Paste Options button .

Copy a selection without its paragraph mark

The character style and any additional character formats applied to the selection.

Copy a selection with its paragraph mark

The paragraph style and any additional paragraph formats applied to the paragraph. By default, the paragraph mark is included when you select a paragraph, but you can change the setting by clearing the Use smart paragraph selection check box on the Edit tab (Options command, Tools menu).

Copy a selection with its section break

All the formatting for the section that precedes it, including margins, number of columns, line numbers, page size and orientation, and headers and footers.

Notes

• To view paragraph marks and section breaks on the screen, click Show/Hide on the Standard toolbar.

• When you copy text formatted with a specific paragraph style to a document that contains a style with the same name, you will be prompted whether you want to format the selection with the style from the original document, the style of your current document, or format as plain text.