Paste Without Formatting in Keynote, Word, and Google Docs on Mac

Why pasting brings in the wrong font

When you copy text from a website, a PDF, an email, or another presentation, macOS stores two things on the clipboard: the raw text characters, and a rich-text version carrying fonts, sizes, colours, and hyperlinks. Most apps — including Keynote, Pages, and Word — prefer the rich version when you paste, which is why a line from a blog post can land on your slide in Helvetica 14pt instead of your theme font.

The fix is simple once you know the shortcut for each app. Below is a quick reference for the apps people ask about most, followed by a one-click solution that works universally.

Keynote: ⌘⇧⌥V

In Keynote, Paste and Match Style is the command you want. The keyboard shortcut is ⌘⇧⌥V (Cmd + Shift + Option + V). You can also reach it via Edit → Paste and Match Style in the menu bar.

Pasting this way strips all source formatting and adopts the font, size, and colour of your current text box or the theme default. The text lands exactly as if you had typed it — no rogue fonts, no inherited hyperlinks.

Tip: if you're pasting into a text box that already contains styled text, position your cursor first — the pasted text picks up the style at the insertion point.

Pages: ⌘⇧⌥V

Pages uses the same shortcut: ⌘⇧⌥V. You'll also find it under Edit → Paste and Match Style. The behaviour is identical to Keynote — the pasted text inherits the paragraph style where your cursor sits.

Microsoft Word: ⌘⇧⌥V or Paste Options

Word on Mac supports the same ⌘⇧⌥V shortcut in most versions. After pasting normally with ⌘V, Word also shows a small Paste Options clipboard icon near the pasted text — click it (or press Ctrl immediately after pasting) and choose Keep Text Only.

If you use Word heavily and always want plain-text pastes, set Keep Text Only as the default: Word → Preferences → Edit → Cut and Copy Options → Smart Cut and Paste, and set your paste default accordingly.

Google Docs: ⌘⇧V

Google Docs uses a different shortcut: ⌘⇧V (no Option key). This is the browser-native "Paste without formatting" command and works in Chrome, Safari, and Firefox. It strips HTML and pastes only the plain text, matching whatever style your cursor is in.

Notion, Slack, and Electron apps

Electron-based apps have inconsistent behaviour. Notion and Slack generally accept ⌘⇧V as the plain-text paste shortcut (same as Google Docs in the browser). If that doesn't work, try ⌘⇧⌥V. When neither works, the universal solution below handles it without any guessing.

Quick reference

A universal solution: strip formatting at the clipboard level

Memorising different shortcuts per app works, but it breaks down when you switch between Keynote and Google Docs and Notion in the same afternoon. A cleaner approach is to strip formatting before you paste — at the clipboard level — so ⌘V always delivers clean text regardless of the destination app.

Pastery, a native macOS clipboard manager, includes a Strip Formatting / Plain Text transform you can apply to any clip in your history. Hover the item in Pastery's panel, click the transform, and paste — the text lands with no source formatting, no matter which app receives it.

The broader benefit is that Pastery keeps your full clipboard history searchable — so instead of re-copying something you pasted ten minutes ago, you pull it from history, apply a transform, and paste in one flow.

Remap ⌘V system-wide (free alternative)

If you want a free solution that covers every app, you can reassign ⌘V to Paste and Match Style in System Settings:

1. Open System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → App Shortcuts
2. Click +, set Application to All Applications
3. In Menu Title, type: Paste and Match Style
4. Set shortcut to ⌘V
5. Repeat with Menu Title Paste and Match Formatting (used by some apps)

After this, ⌘V pastes plain text everywhere the menu option exists. Apps that don't have the menu option (VS Code, Terminal) are unaffected — they already paste plain text. The trade-off: you lose easy access to rich-text paste when you occasionally do want it (pasting a formatted table from Excel, for example).

Frequently asked questions