microsoft word help please

Hi all.

I have windows vista home premium and microsoft word student 2007 edition.
I am copy and pasting some various articles from the internet to use as quotes in an essay I have to complete.
The problem is, when I copy and paste from the website, the font stays the same as what it was when I got it from the website, so I have to change the size and style every time in word.
Is their a way I can format the word document, so no matter what the font looks like before copying and pasting, it will still look the same in microsoft word?

Basically I want to be able to copy and paste from specific websites without having to re change the size and style in word, I want word to do it automatically, I never used to have this problem.
I have a table that I copy and paste to, so is their a way to format the table so all font that goes in is the same?


Thanks all.

 

I'm using the 2003 edition of Office, but when I do what you're doing, I see a little clipboard at the end of the material I've just pasted. If you click on that clipboard, there will be a dropdown menu and from there you can choose to keep the original format of the material you are copying, or the second option, which says to 'match destination formatting'. That will make the font and format of the material you're copying and pasting match that of the rest of the word document you are working on.

BTW, copying and pasting material from web pages when using the Opera browser does not provide this option. The format always gets changed to that of the word document. (I actually prefer to keep the format of the web page, so I don't use the Opera browser in such cases. )

Hope that helps.

 

If Amethyst_08's suggestion doesn't pan out, you might try this:

Click View, Page Source (or Source Code, depending upon the browser), or right-click on the page and click View Page Source...the code for the page should then open in your default text editor, from which you could find, copy and paste the pertinent content in raw text, without any HTML formatting...

 

When you paste from where ever you should see a clipboard icon usually at the bottom right of the item you pasted move your cursor around it should pop in view click the down arrow on the right of the clipboard it will open a dialog box you will have 3 options you want to choose the text only option this will remove the frame (everything on a web site sits in a cell)

 

Yep, it's easy as pie! Here's how:

TO COPY AND PASTE TEXT IN THE DESTINATION FORMAT:
From any MS Word file, click on the MS icon, and at the bottom of the next screen select: Word Options.
From the drop-down menu, select Advanced, and then Cut, Copy, Paste.
Go to the following 4 boxes and select: Match Destination Format:
Pasting within the same document
Pasting between documents
Pasting between documents when style definitions conflict, and
Pasting from other programs
Click: OK

 

Try Tools Options Edit tab look for Smart style behavior make sure it is checked.

When you paste use Paste Special you will get a dialog box to make choices. This may/maynot work with all your paste items...I blame that on the computer static gremlin.

 

I usually have a Notepad document open at all times.

I consider this my "scratch" pad.

Dropping your selected text into a Notepad document as an intermediate step will strip it of *all* formatting, which then pastes nicely/easily into your destination document (which may or may not be an MS Word document in the future).

I know all about "Match Destination Formatting" and all that jazz, I just prefer to kick it old-school...

That, and I find it easier to Ctrl+C, Alt+Tab, Ctrl+V than to mess around more than I have to with mouse actions.

 

So, I'm just curious. . . if you don't want to have to mess around with more steps than you have to, with mouse actions, as you said, then why would you purposefully choose methods that make you take multiple mouse actions every single time you cut and paste text? -- when instead, you could have just selected Match Destination Formatting ONCE, and NEVER have to do anything about it ever again? -- In other words, in the future, you'd only have to take ZERO mouse actions because the command had already been set, and the transferred text always matches the destination text, AUTOMATICALLY.

 

It's partially just a general contrariness on my part, but the remainder revolves around the ability to actually strip all the formatting (markup) from what I'm bringing over, which is not always the same thing as "match[ing] destination formatting."

ETA: And it's actually the same amount of mouse actions (the click+hold+drag to highlight selected text) either way. The rest is all keyboard shortcuts, no matter if I take the intermediate Notepad step...

 

Why not use Paste Special | Text? In both Word 2003 and Word 2007, I recorded a simple macro for this. Then, I added a button to the menu and linked the button to the macro. Thus, copying from a web page to Word without carrying over the formatting is a simple click on that button.

 

So usafveteran, you essentially created the function that Office 2007 has now created for all of us. Without your macro, If users use Paste Special Text, they have to deal with it (and go through all of the steps) every time they want to transfer text from one source to any destination document they're transferring to. Using the Match Destination Formatting function is much, much simpler, and virtually a perfect solution. You just set the "Match Destination Formatting" once, and then you never again have to do anything about it -- In other words, in the future, because the command had already been set, the transferred text always automatically matches the destination text.

 

I think your solution is good but I have to disagree regarding my suggestion of Paste Special | Text. Did you read my post?

 

I did, and I applaud you for creating the macro -- it was a great idea and obviously works well for you. Most people however, (including me), are not that gifted in creating macros. And in this case, I don't see the sense in creating a macro for a function that already exists and works perfectly.

 

All the suggestion made are excellent and pretty simple.

You must be seriously under extreme pressure if two extra mouse clicks is not a solution you find acceptable.

 

I'm not sure who your comment was directed to, but in my case, for example, when I have to do some extensive on-line research that involves copying and pasting many items of text, for hours at a time, YES!!! Two extra mouse clicks for each and every time I have to transfer some text, is VERY VERY annoying!!!