Online Learning Support

Sometimes when we are copying and pasting text, the text is highlighted. For some reason this highlighting is very difficult to remove in Word. The key to removing the highlight is to use the "Merge Formatting" or "Keep Text Only" commands when you first paste the text into your document. Sometimes the command is "match destination formatting," especially on MACs. 

To do this, find the little "CTRL" box that appears after you have pasted your text. Then select "Merge Formatting" or "Keep Text Only" in order to remove the highlighting. Merge formatting keeps the original italics and formatting intact while removing the highlighting. Keep text only removes all the highlighting and all the formatting.

If a lot of time has passed since you pasted the text, you may have to recopy the text as "keep text only" in order to remove the formatting. Sometimes, in order to take the formatting out, you have to open a brand new document, paste the text into it, and choose the "keep text only" option. Then, you can copy the unformatted text back into your original document.

Don't forget to italicize the appropriate titles and database names if you use the "keep text only" option."

In Google Docs, to keep text only, use CTRL + Shift + V to paste in plain text.

Please contact one of our Librarians in person or through our Ask a Librarian if you have questions.