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paste without format, but retain field

I am getting mixed results when pasting fields from one document to the next. I want the fields I paste to take on the formatting of the target document. What I've been finding is in one session, Word sometimes pastes and takes on the target formatting just fine; other sessions, it leaves the source formatting.

I should mention that I use the clipboard collector to hold the different fields I need to paste. 

I've tried changing the Word Options>Advanced> Cut,Copy, and paste  under Pasting between documents to Merge Formatting and the tried Keep Text Only, but neither change makes any difference. Any ideas on how I can force my paste to always take on target format?

Hi,

Welcome to Microsoft Community and thank you for posting the question.

Before we start with troubleshooting I need to know more about the issues that you are facing.

  • What fields are you pasting?

 Provide a screenshot, it will help us understand the issue better.

 Click on the link below for details on how to insert a screenshot.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki/windows_other-windows_programs/how-to-include-a-screenshot-in-your-post/2594b08e-32a3-476a-85a6-b021181be7e4

 

Please post back with more details.

 

Thank you

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By default, Word tries to apply the formatting of styles in the target document. This doesn't work if the pasted data is formatted in styles that do not exist in the target document, of course. Also, if you paste in text using a built-in style which has not yet been used in the target document, Word modifies the target style.

"Keep Text Only" guarantees that no formatting is brought in from the source file, but it will also remove any formatting which isn't text (such as fields, pictures, etc.), so it won't help in this case.

Sometimes, especially if the target is a mix of styles and direct formatting, reversing the process might help. In other words, instead of copying content from document A into document B, copy content from B into (a copy of) A.
Stefan Blom
MS 365 Word MVP since 2005
Volunteer Moderator
MS 365, Win 11 Pro
~~~
Note that I do not work for Microsoft
https://mvp.microsoft.com/
~~~
Please specify Word version & OS in your question

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I toggled the first one so you can see they are docvariable fields.

Both the source and target documents have the same templates attached with the same styles. When I copied the fields from source file, I chose the fields with the most common style applied to them (body text). When I am pasting in the target, I have to paste frequently into a table, which uses body text table style, which has a 10 pt font vs 11 point in regular body text.

Hope this helps.

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Tables are a special case in Word. Formatting from paragraph styles may be ignored unless you make sure that the document defaults match the settings in the Normal style of the target document.

To set document defaults: In the Styles pane (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S), click the Manage Styles icon, and then click the Set Defaults tab of the Manage Styles dialog box.

Stefan Blom
MS 365 Word MVP since 2005
Volunteer Moderator
MS 365, Win 11 Pro
~~~
Note that I do not work for Microsoft
https://mvp.microsoft.com/
~~~
Please specify Word version & OS in your question

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My question really is more of what appears to be Word's inconsistency. It seems to vary by Word session.

Sometimes I can paste into tables and the font size DOES take on the 10 pt font size just fine. There are a few places too where the fields are pasted into headings of 12 or 14 pt font size, and they paste fine. But other times, the content pastes at the size from which it was pasted.  

This why behind the randomness is what I'm struggling to uncover and overcome.

Any thoughts?

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Try changing the document defaults as I wrote in my previous reply.
Stefan Blom
MS 365 Word MVP since 2005
Volunteer Moderator
MS 365, Win 11 Pro
~~~
Note that I do not work for Microsoft
https://mvp.microsoft.com/
~~~
Please specify Word version & OS in your question

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Question Info

Last updated October 5, 2021 Views 239 Applies to: