This will be short and not very computer science-y, but I was making a list by pasting a bunch of items from various places on the web and Word kept formatting it according to the HTML (which I went around by first pasting the text in the Chrome bar and then copying that, because otherwise my lists would turn out wrong even if I did "match formatting"). Anyway, here's the smart way to do it.
Say we want to use Command+Shift+V to paste unformatted text (I think that's what it does in Windows by default-- well replace Command by Control obviously).
- copy some internet formatted text (this bullet point works just fine)
- go to Tools->Macro->Record New Macro...
- type a name for the macro (can leave the default), eg: "PastePlainText"
- click (on the exact center of) the "Keyboard" in "Assign macro to"
- press "command" "shift" "v" on your keyboard in sequence
- click "Assign" first
- click "OK"
- Go to Edit->Paste Special and select "Unformatted Text", click OK
- Go to Tools->Macro->Stop recording
- Go to Tools->Macro->Macros and highlight your "PastePlainText" macro, and click Edit
- Replace "wdPasteDefault" with "wdFormatPlainText", save and return to Word (there's a blue W Word symbol in the toolbar there, click on that)
- And, you're done!
P.S.: I thought there was a way to assign this by using System Preferences -> Keyboard shortcuts but I just tried and that only works for actual Menu items, so the best that could do is open the "Paste Special" menu, so this is a far better solution.
P.P.S.: I learned this by watching this video. Not sure what that person gains if you click on the link, so do so, but I never got exactly why I'd watch a video instead of reading 5 bullet points (with images if something is very complicated). So, click on the video and then close it I guess. But thanks to the author anyway!
P.P.P.S.: I ended up using Ctrl+Shift+V because the other combination was already assigned to something (not sure what, didn't want to dig into it)
