Microsoft Word Tip: Clear Formatting from Pasted Text

The other day I showed you how to remove e-mail and Web hyperlinks from text copied and pasted into a Word document. Okay, but what about formatting? What if you want to rid pasted text of weird line spacing, italics, and the like? Turns out there's an easy shortcut for that as well.

Once you paste your selected text into a Word document, Outlook e-mail message, Windows Live Writer page, or the like, simply re-select all the text, then press Ctrl-Space. (That's the space bar, in case it's not abundantly clear.) Presto: No more funky formatting, just plain old text.

I have to say, I find this even more useful than the hyperlink shortcut, as I constantly get weird formatting when I paste into Outlook -- and it annoys the bejeezus out of me. Way to go, Digital Inspiration!