Problems with Styles when I Copy/Paste in Word

Question

Hi,

I've been battling with copy/paste in Word for a while now, and I can't seem to figure it out.  I spend a lot of time writing and preparing documents, and if I could get this sorted out, it would be a huge time saver.

I use styles that I have created for everything in my document.  These styles are in a separate template that are attached to each document.  Every line of text in my document is in one of my user defined styles.  These styles involve 3 different levels of bulleted lists, 3 different heading/subheading styles, and one style that uses a border.

Most often, I am cutting/pasting within the same document.  I also cut/paste between documents that are using the same template and styles.

My settings under the "cut, copy and paste" tab are:

Pasting within the same document:  Keep Source Formatting (Default)

Pasting between documents:  Keep Source Formatting (Default)

Pasting between documents when style definitions conflict:  Keep Source Formatting

When pasting within the same document, using Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V, the style never seems to retain the original.  At times it seems to take on the style of the line above.  Other times it seems to do a weird merging of two styles.  It rarely, if ever, seems to actually keep the source formatting.

Because moving things around is such a huge part of my writing/editing process that I do, this is really inconvenient.

Is there some other setting that might be overriding the Keep Source Formatting setting for pasting within the same document?  Or does it simply not work with the Ctrl-V shortcut...

Thanks.

Answer 1

For those who tried to help, and anyone else that might be experiencing this problem, after a couple hours of experimentation, I was finally able to find a solution.

• Go to FILE, OPTIONS on the Word menu.
• Select ADVANCED
• Go to the CUT, COPY and PASTE section
• Click on the SETTINGS button next to the "Use Smart Cut and Paste" box
• Turn OFF "Smart style behavior"
• Turn OFF "Merge pasted lists with surrounding lists"

This seems to have resolved the issue!

Jodi

Answer 2

Hi,

I would first recommend that you disable linked styles.

Are you doing the pasting with the paragraph marks displayed?

Ctrl+Shift+8 (Ctrl+*)

I hope this information helps. Please let me know if you have any more questions or require further help.

Regards

Answer 3

If you use the paste options buttons after a paste, are you able to achieve what you want? If so, which button helps?

Answer 4

I rarely have paragraph marks turned on, because of the clutter.  I typically paste with my cursor at the beginning of a line of text.

How do I disable linked styles?  I searched in help and couldn't find anything with that search phrase.

Thank you.

Answer 5

How do I disable linked styles?  I searched in help and couldn't find anything with that search phrase.

Thank you.

Turn on the Styles Pane.

There is a check box at the bottom.

***  I typically paste with my cursor at the beginning of a line of text.

When you paste at the beginning of a line of text if the text being pasted does not have a paragraph mark at the end, you will take on the formatting of the paragraph into which you are pasting. This is because you are inserting into that paragraph.

I rarely have paragraph marks turned on, because of the clutter. ***

If you use Word the way it is built to be used, you will not have extra paragraph marks (clutter).

2.2 Why you should press Enter only once to end a paragraph

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