Wrong Format Paste

Question

When executing cut / copy, the wrong font format is pasted:

(1) wrong font type (2) wrong color (3) wrong paragraph formatting - After 10 pt & Line Sp Multiple 1.15

I have already checked: and / or confirmed:

> no Skype / Call add-on

> Options / Advanced / Cut, Copy and Paste - Source Formatting selected

> default font

> default paragraph setting

> occurs in existing specific documents created from one another, whether in Word 2007, Word 97 and using either Windows Vista or Windows 8.1 (i.e. different computers)

> I changed the normal template to correct default font and default paragraph settings - new docs paste ok, but these existing specific docs still paste wrong

ANY OTHER SUGGESTIONS ?

Answer 1

To add to what Charles has said, styles save time and let you create a structured document. With styles you can easily reuse formatting (no need to select text and repeatedly apply bold, different font sizes, etc. to create your heading) within a document and from one document to another.

Any document created in Word makes use of at least one style: the Normal paragraph style, usually.

You can revert to the formatting of paragraph styles in a document by selecting text and pressing Ctrl+SpaceBar (which clears font/character formatting not in style) and Ctrl+Q (which clears paragraph formatting not in style).

Answer 2

Hi Charles,

Styles were a prominent feature of the first version of Word, 1.0 for DOS, though in those days, it was limited to Paragraph Styles and simple Font Styling such as Bold and Underlined, which were all the printers of those days could handle, unless you changed the Daisy Wheel in the printer.   A dot matrix printer may have been able to handle Italics, but the quality of printing with a nine-pin print head left much to be desired.

When WYSIWYG came along, Microsoft seemed to "drop the ball" on styles, with the result that there is a whole generation of users who don't know anything about them.

Answer 3

Try the merge and text only methods as well.

Chances are good that it is copying Style information and that the Style definitions are different in the source and destination documents.

Understanding Styles in Microsoft Word

Second, stop creating documents from other documents. Use custom templates instead.

Templates in Microsoft Word

Both custom templates and styles are not necessarily taught to new Word users. They should be because Word can be very difficult to use without an understanding of them.

Answer 4

I do wish you luck.

I do want to clarify that Styles have been a part of Word at least back to Word 97 and before in Word 95 and Word 6.0.

All styles cannot be removed. They are at the heart of Word. However, you can paste as plain text and then format (preferably using styles).

Answer 5

Microsoft Community - Charles Kenyon:

Thanks for pointing out Styles... I'll figure out paste hierarchy and how it works with direct formatting, font default, cascade functions, paragraph marks, Options (source / destination), or if all Styles can be removed. This is the only way for me to get the best paste results for my files older than Office / Word 2007 ribbon and 97 when Styles were not part of cut / copy and paste. 

WISH ME LUCK and HAPPY NEW YEAR !

Valerie D Peterkin ******@yahoo.com 908-244-6000

I was talking about saving your own templates rather than re-using documents. I know little about canned templates on the website or available elsewhere other than those on my downloads page. That page has no calendar templates.

Styles have been a part of Word cut and paste since at least Word 97. If you are regularly using Word without understanding and using Styles you are shooting yourself in the foot (if not higher)! You are definitely doing things the hard way in Word. Understanding Styles in Microsoft Word was originally written for Word 2000. There was very little new about Styles in that version (the first upgrade from Word 97. Certainly character and paragraph styles are a crucial part of Word 97.

The problem you are seeing comes about from different style definitions in different documents. How it acts will appear somewhat inconsistent depending on whether (1) styles are cascading or based on other styles, (2) the text being pasted includes one or more paragraph marks, and (3) whether the styles for the text being pasted are already "in use" in the destination document.

This can get complicated if you directly format text (for instance as bold) and that somehow gets incorporated in the Style. Then you change your mind and directly format the text as not bold without the Style being changed.