The Paste Without Formatting command is a simple but effective solution that can cut down on formatting time for users that do a lot of copying and pasting. We love it because it provides an easy way to strip out applied formatting when pasting content into another frame that may contain different formatting. For example, this is great when a callout or pullquote is needed on a page and the editor has designated a portion of the main text to be used for that element. Here’s how it works:

Apply the Paste Without Formatting Command

  1. Create two frames in a layout.
  2. Add content to one of the frames.
  3. Format the content using either a paragraph or character style, or apply local formatting using the Control panel.
  4. Add some content to the second frame and apply different formatting to it.
  5. Copy content from the first frame by selecting Edit>Copy or CMD-C (CTL-C).
  6. Click to activate an insertion point to add the pasted content to the existing content in the second frame, or highlight a range of text to replace in the second frame, and select Edit>Paste Without Formatting, CMD-Shift-V (CTL-Shift-V on a PC) or right-click (CTL-click) to access the command from the contextual menu.

Voila! The content will now appear with the same formatting that was applied in the second frame.

Note that this feature works within one InDesign document or between multiple InDesign documents, or from an InCopy to an InDesign document and vice versa. It does not work if the user is pasting from email, web, or Word documents. However, if you wish to bring content from those programs, you can easily paste the content onto the pasteboard and then use the Paste Without Formatting command once the content has been brought into the document.

You can download our handbook, Using Adobe InDesign CC 2018, to learn even more!

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Note: Information contained in this post is current at the time of posting. Visit the Technology for Publishing News & Events blog for the latest info on Adobe software releases and functionality.

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Posted by: Monica Murphy

Monica Murphy
Monica Murphy has worked in the publishing industry for over 30 years supporting publishing operations of various sizes. In her role as Technical Product Manager for Technology for Publishing, she shares her publishing application expertise supporting a broad range of publishing clients in InDesign best practices, cross-platform content workflows, and InDesign Template strategies. Her weekly tip and blog posts have a committed following in the InDesign community, and as a long-time participant in the InDesign pre-release community, she regularly analyzes and provides feedback for upcoming features. Monica manages the authoring and publication of Technology for Publishing’s handbooks on InDesign, InCopy, and other associated titles.
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