Copy and Paste with Precision: MS Word

Here's a tip for MS Word users who do a lot of cutting and pasting with text and prefer to minimize the number of times they reach for the mouse.

For example: suppose you want to copy and paste a line that which uses the "Heading" format into a paragraph with normal formatting. When you select the line, MS Word will also select the paragraph mark which denotes a carriage return (or the beginning of a new line). If you simply paste the line (instead pasting as "unformatted text"), Word will impose the "Heading" style on the line you just pasted.

Here's a quick and easy way to copy and paste text without including paragraph mark:

• Position the cursor where you want to start copying, press the [Shift] key, and press [End] to select a single line of text.
   
• To select more, press the Right Arrow key while pressing [Shift].
   
• While still pressing the [Shift] key, press the Left Arrow key once. Doing so deselects the paragraph mark.
   
• When you copy and paste this text, it will assume the formatting associated with the target paragraph.

That's it!

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