Copy/Paste with Keep Source Formatting No Longer Works

Question

I have documents with Styles and Numbering.  I can no longer copy and paste paragraphs and retain the styles and numbering between documents.  Pasting with Keep Source Formatting changes all the paragraphs to Normal style and kills all the numbering.

I've tried changing the defaults in the options, used the "Keep Source Formatting" on the paste options button, selected "Keep Source Formatting" from the Home->Paste button.  Nothing seems to work.  Seemed to pop up after the last update.

Please fix this asap.

Win10 64 bit, Word 365 MSP 16.0.13901.20366 64-bit

Answer 1

Also, I tried removing all my addins, running in safe mode, replacing my Normal.dotm, etc. Still broken.

Picture:

Answer 2

In my opinion, "keep source formatting" is not an accurate description.

It does not bring in styles but character-level formatting. Everything will show up as normal style with additional formatting.

Try the merge formatting.

See How to create numbered headings or outline numbering in Ribbon Versions of Word by Shauna Kelly. If you have those styles in both documents it should work.

If you want us to take a look at the exact documents. Save samples, one the source with the numbering, another to receive the copy, on OneDrive or DropBox and  post view links to them here.

Trouble Shooting - Share OneDrive File - by Rohn

Answer 3

No.  That is wrong and not what the documentation says per Microsoft. The options are described as follows:

• Keep Source Formatting (K)    This option retains formatting that was applied to the copied text. Any style definition that is associated with the copied text is copied to the destination document.
• Merge Formatting (M)    This option discards most formatting that was applied directly to the copied text, but it retains formatting that is considered emphasis, such as bold and italic, when it is applied to only a portion of the selection. The text takes on the style characteristics of the paragraph where it is pasted. The text also takes on any direct formatting or character style properties of text that immediately precedes the cursor when the text is pasted.
• Picture (U)   This option is only available on Microsoft 365 Subscription. Converts text into an image and pastes that. The text can't be changed, but you can treat it like any other picture or image and use effects, borders, or rotation. When selected, choose options from the Picture Format tab.
• Keep Text Only (T)    This option discards all formatting and nontext elements such as pictures or tables. The text takes on the style characteristics of the paragraph where it is pasted and takes on any direct formatting or character style properties of text that immediately precedes the cursor when the text is pasted. Graphical elements are discarded, and tables are converted to a series of paragraphs.

See: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/control-the-formatting-when-you-paste-text-20156a41-520e-48a6-8680-fb9ce15bf3d6#:~:text=Merge%20Formatting%20(M)%20This%20option,paragraph%20where%20it%20is%20pasted.

Keep Source Formatting is supposed to copy all of the formatting in the selected text to the destination document when pasted.  This is how it has worked until one of the recent updates.

Answer 4

I do not disagree that what you are showing is the documentation.

I am telling you that the documentation is wrong. "Keep Source Formatting" copies character-level formatting as direct formatting in the Normal style.

There is no method of pasting this text, with numbered styles, that carries the style formatting into the new document.

Here is a screenshot from a recipient document that contains both a screenshot from the source text as it is copied and the pasted text using "Keep Source Formatting."

The original text was in Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, Body Text Level 3, and Body Text paragraph styles. The pasted text is all in the Normal style.

You can test this yourself, if you want.

Here are samples:

• Temporary link to Source Document
  This is using primarily built-in styles. The Body Text Level 3 style is a custom style.
• Temporary link to Recipient Document 1
• Temporary link to Recipient Document 2

I just checked and that is how it is behaving in Word 2010, as well. - Exeption, in Word 2010, pasting into a document in which the styles had not been used preserved the numbering. That was with "Use Destination Styles!"

Surprising behavior in Word 2010 pasting into a new document that has a base of Body Text, using "Use Destination Styles!"

The styles are there! The text is not in the normal style.

Using "Keep Source Formatting" gives:

The text is all in the Normal  Style with direct formatting and the numbering is removed.

Answer 5

In my experience, you will generally get better results if you leave the default (preselected) options for pasting at File > Options > Advanced selected. In addition, make sure that "Show Paste Options button..." is selected. See screen shot below.

Note that numbered paragraphs require special consideration in Word. It will be safer to set up a template with the desired numbering (and other styles) and then paste existing content into a document based on the template. Re-apply styles as required.