How to Paste Into Google Docs Without Formatting
Press Ctrl+Shift+V. We tested what that removes compared with Clear formatting, so you can keep the links, lists and tables you still want.
Press Ctrl+Shift+V, or ⌘+Shift+V on a Mac. You can also choose Edit > Paste without formatting. The text takes on the font, size and color of the spot you paste it into.
It also loses its links, lists and tables, which isn't always what you want. So we tested the options side by side.
What each option keeps
On November 2, 2026, we pasted the same snippet from a web page into a blank Google Doc three ways, then read the result back from Google's own export. The snippet had a heading in Georgia, red bold and italic text on a yellow highlight, a link, a two-item bullet list and a two-cell table.
| In the source | Normal paste | Paste without formatting | Normal paste, then Clear formatting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Font and size | Kept | Replaced (Arial 11) | Replaced (Arial; the heading stays larger) |
| Text color and highlight | Kept | Removed | Removed |
| Bold and italic | Kept | Removed | Removed |
| Link | Kept | Removed | Kept |
| Heading | Kept | Plain line | Kept |
| Bullet list | Kept | Plain lines | Kept |
| Table | Kept | One line, spaces between cells | Kept |
So the two ways of removing formatting are not the same. Paste without formatting removes everything but the words and line breaks. Clear formatting removes the look but leaves the structure.
Which one to use
- You only want the words: press Ctrl+Shift+V. This suits text from a PDF, an email or a chat.
- You want the links, lists and tables but not the styling: paste normally with Ctrl+V, select what you pasted, then press Ctrl+\ or choose Format > Clear formatting.
- You want the text to match a particular paragraph: paste it first. Then click in the paragraph you want to match, press Ctrl+Alt+C to copy its formatting, select the new text, and press Ctrl+Alt+V. The Paint format roller in the toolbar does the same job with a mouse.
Keyboard shortcuts
These come from Google's list of Docs shortcuts.
| Action | Windows and ChromeOS | Mac |
|---|---|---|
| Paste without formatting | Ctrl+Shift+V | ⌘+Shift+V |
| Clear formatting | Ctrl+\ | ⌘+\ |
| Copy formatting | Ctrl+Alt+C | ⌘+Option+C |
| Paste formatting | Ctrl+Alt+V | ⌘+Option+V |
If the shortcut does nothing
Try Edit > Paste without formatting first. If the menu works but the shortcut doesn't, something else is probably using those keys. Browser and extension shortcuts are the usual cause: Vivaldi users, for example, have reported that the browser's own paste shortcut took over until they changed it.
When Docs changes your text after it's in
Formatting from the source is one problem. Docs also changes some things as you type, and those settings are in a different place. Go to Tools > Preferences, where the General tab has these options, among others:
- Automatically capitalize words
- Use smart quotes
- Automatically detect links
- Automatically detect lists
- Automatically correct spelling
In our tests, these were on by default. Docs capitalized the first word of the document, curled straight quotes, and turned "1. " at the start of a line into a numbered list. If one of those gets in your way, untick it here. The Substitutions tab holds the list of automatic replacements. See Google's page on autocorrect for more.
Typing it in instead of pasting
Text typed at the cursor takes on the formatting already there, because nothing comes across from a source. For a long piece of text you don't have to do that by hand: AutoType, our Chrome extension, types text from a side panel into your document. It was still waiting on its Chrome Web Store release when we wrote this.
It has limits. It sends plain characters, so bold, links and tables don't come along, and a typed list is just lines of text. It's also much slower than pasting. Typing 1,000 words takes minutes, and pasting takes about a second. For most people, Ctrl+Shift+V is the better answer.
Common questions
Does paste without formatting remove links? Yes. In our test the link text stayed, but it was no longer a link. To keep links, paste normally and then use Clear formatting.
Does it keep line breaks? Yes. Each paragraph and list item stayed on its own line. Table cells ended up on one line, separated by spaces.
Does Clear formatting remove headings? Not in our test. The heading stayed a heading, in the document's own heading style rather than the source's font and color. To make it plain, set the line to Normal text.
Can I make paste without formatting the default? We didn't find a setting for it in Tools > Preferences, so you need the shortcut or the menu each time.
Why does my pasted text still look different from the rest? Check whether you used Ctrl+V. If you did, select the text and press Ctrl+\. If a whole document looks off, the paragraph style may differ, so check that the style box in the toolbar says Normal text.
