MS Word 2000 – Cut & Paste Problem (2000)

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Hi. When I cut and paste from one document to another, I sometimes loose formatting (bold, font size, left justified, etc.) I think it has something to do with the Styles of one document being different from the Styles of another document. Is there a way around this? Help!

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Hi,

If you’ve got a style defined to look one way in Document1, and have a style with the same name defined to look a different way in Document2, and if you then paste text with this style from Document1 into Document 2, the text is going to take on the characteristics for that style as defined in Document 2.

That’s default Word behavior and I guess it’s set up that way because the assumption is that you will usually want to have a consistent look within a particular document.

If you have content in Document1 that looks one way, and you have content in Document2 that looks a different way, but you sometimes want to be able to mix and match text from one document to the other, while allowing all of the text to keep its original formatting, then the best bet is to have one set of styles for Document1, and a different set of styles, with different names from those in Document 1, for your Document2.

It would also be best to define these styles in templates and then create your Document1-type documents based on one template, and your Document2-type documents based on the other template.

If you look for postings by Charles Kenyon, he has links to his website which contains good information on these topics.

Gary

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Hi Gary. Thank you for taking the time to post a reply. I appreciate it. I don’t really use Styles and actually prefer not to use it. My problem is that I have to insert content from documents created by someone else who might have different Sytle settings. Is there a way for everyone here at work to have the same default Styles?

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Hi, all text in Word is based on a style of one sort or another. If you want all documents to have the same look and feel, you should set up styles that everyone has access to. For instance a standard document template that is stored as a workgroup template and contains all the styles you want to use.

Even if you don’t want to use styles, to some extend Word will force you.

For instance let’s say that your Normal style is set to Times New Roman 10 pt (the factory default) but that you have decided all the text in your document should be in Arial 11 point. If you aren’t using styles, you have probably just selected the text and applied direct formatting. Looks fine doesn’t it? Then you decide you need a page number or header/footer – this will be in Times New Roman 10 point NOT Arial 11 pt!! You may also use automatic paragraph numbering, or cross referencing and the numbers print in Times New Roman – NOT Arial. Another problem often occurs when editing text – the font changes for no apparent reason! All this happens because you have not used styles correctly.

Even if you try hard not to use styles, you are always using at least one – Normal.

With the default installation of Word, another problem that will occur is that Word will look at your direct formatting (that is formatting you apply, eg bold, without changing the style), and it will automatically assign a style to that type of formatting. This is a real pain, particularly when you are copying text between documents. So, a common type of formatting is Bold and Caps. If you have formatted some text to be Bold and Caps, Word might decide that this will be a Heading 1 style and apply that. When you copy and paste that text into another document, it will take on the formatting of the Heading 1 style that is contained in the second document.

I recommend that you turn this lovely feature OFF

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Hi Karen. Thank you for posting a reply and the GREAT advice. I have resolved to conquer Word and learn Styles!

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I’ve just posted a macro to rename all styles (including built-in styles) by appending a * to the style name.

Running it on the document you paste from would get rid of your problem … but consider the disadvantages carefully (inflation of styles, and, as Gary pointed out, you want to keep the formatting of your documents consistent).

For large chunks of text that you want to copy/paste, and that should look the same as in the document you copy from, you might also try “Edit > Paste Special > Microsoft Word Document Object”. This inserts the formatted text as a separate doc with a separate set of styles.

Klaus

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Hi Klaus. I’ve never used a macro so I don’t feel comfortable using one. Thanks anyway. It really is an ingenious solution.

Also, I don’t really use Styles and so do the others here at work. In fact, I prefer not to and I am assuming the same for my co-workers. Is there a way I can set Word so that my default Styles are the same as the default Styles of everybody else at work?

I like your “Edit > Paste Special > Microsoft Word Document Object” suggestion. I just noticed that if I am cut & pasting more than 1 page then I have to do it 1 page at a time. Still a lot better than having to format everything again. I also like the Format Painter solution somebody else suggested in Virtual Dr Support Forum. A bit of work but also ok.

Thank you very much for the great advice Klaus!

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Your statement “I don’t really use Styles … I prefer not to and I am assuming the same for my coworkers.” reminds me of a friend who could never come to visit even though she could drive. The problem was that about the only way from where she lived to where her grandmother lived was a freeway, and she couldn’t merge, in fact, she preferred not to. A closer analogy, though, might be a person who refused to look at a map or read street signs. Sorry, but Styles are the “guts” of Word and if you aren’t going to learn to use them, I would suggest that you take a good look at Word Pad or Word Perfect. Otherwise, you are going to be unhappy with most of your work with Word.

My advice is based on very painful personal experience. Using Word without understanding styles is very much like pushing on a string to get it to straighten out. Learn about Styles – really learn! I resisted for years and now regret every day of those years because although that string was still very hard to push, it kept getting longer and longer, and had some very important projects tied to it! Once you understand styles and the Word concept of organizing things into Chinese boxes everything falls into place and instead of pushing a string, you can push a button that turns on the very powerful text processing machine known as Microsoft Word and it will start doing your work for you instead of running around behind you trying to undo what you just thought you did.

So much for my rant.

The following links will give you a better idea of what is going on each time you press the enter key and each time you apply formatting directly rather than by using a style. I think you’ll be very glad that you spent the time reading them, if you will only take that time.

Word for Word Perfect Users (addbalance.com/word/wordperfect.htm)
Word Perfect compared to Word (mvps.org/word/FAQs/)
Tips and Gotchas (mvps.org/word/FAQs/)
Does Word Have Reveal Codes? (mvps.org/word/FAQs/)

(These are good resources even if you’ve never used Word Perfect.)

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Hi Chas. Thanks for taking the time to reply. You sure put forward a good argument. I’ll check out the sites you recommended.

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When you cut -n-paste (from Document 1 to Document 2), you must remember NOT to select the paragraph mark in the text you cut from “Document 1.” I run into this problem when I scan a document with OCR. I scan the document into a text (.txt) file. Then I open the text file with Word and I click the little paragraph icon on the toolbar. I want to see the paragraph marks. In fact, you have to see the paragraph marks so as to avoid cutting them along with the text. So…you select the text in Doc1, being careful not to include the paragraph mark! Then you switch to Doc2–the new document you’re creating–and paste the text. The text you paste will assume the style of the paragraph in Doc2. Try this both ways to see what I mean. If you select text WITH THE PARAGRAPH MARK and then paste the text into Doc2, the new paragraph in Doc2 will display the formatting of the original, i.e., Doc1. This is exactly the problem you’re trying to overcome.

This means that you should not select a paragraph by clicking and dragging in the left margin. This approach will always end in selecting the paragraph mark. My suggestions: Click and drag beginning at the end of the passage you want to select–i.e., just to the left of the paragraph mark. Another way (my favorite): Place the insertion point at the beginning of the paragraph and select by holding down CTRL + Shift while you move the selection point with the left and right arrow keys.

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Hi Lucas. Thanks a lot for posting a reply. My problem is that I have to cut & paste large chunks of text so it’s inevitable that I’ll include paragraph marks. I like Klaus’s “Edit > Paste Special > Microsoft Word Document Object” solution but it has its kinks. Thanks a lot for all the suggestions!

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