


(A few recent PDFs do store some information about this stuff, but that’s a new technology, and you’d be lucky to find PDFs like that. In most cases, a PDF does not even store information about where one word ends and another begins, much less things like soft breaks vs. a PDF is basically a map containing the exact location of characters (individual letters or punctuation, etc.) or images. PDFs are designed to mimic a printed page, and they are designed only as an output format, not an input format. SuperUser contributor Frabjous offers a solution combined with a heavy dose of caution:įirstly, you have to understand what a PDF is. You’ll never have to waste time reformatting text that could reformat itself again.Is there a quick and easy way for Colen (and the rest of us) to get grab text without sacrificing the formatting? The Answer Which translates into minutes and hours in the long run. Whether you spend your day writing articles, creating presentation decks, or even just keeping up with your inbox, this quick trick will save you a few seconds here and there. So while it might take a little more time to figure out the best shortcuts in your favorite applications, you can still put in some work upfront to avoid adjusting the formatting every time you paste. Other applications might have their own solutions or allow you to use some sort of outside program or extension to achieve similar results. And in Office, you can click on the little Paste Options button that appears next to the pasted text and hit Match Destination Formatting (which will still keep bold and italics) or Keep Text Only-and you can set one of those as the default way to paste. But, for example, in Chrome and Firefox, you can use Control + Shift + V. On a PC, there’s not a catch-all shortcut that’ll work across every application. Technically, you can also go to Edit and scroll down to Paste and Match Formatting or Paste and Match Style, but who wants to go back to that much mouse clicking? It’s a lot of keys at once, but it’ll quickly become second nature. Instead of Command + V, hit Command + Option + Shift + V. Let’s start with Macs, because it’s easier.
