Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Tip 320
Copy and Paste Without the Formatting
Like most modern operating systems, Mac OS X will retain text formatting
when you copy and paste text from one place to another. For example, copying
a paragraph of text from a website and then pasting it into a TextEdit docu-
ment will mean it keeps the same font and point size.
There are several ways to avoid this, as follows:
• In some apps, you can click the Paste→Paste and Match Style entry on
the Edit menu.
• In some apps, holding down
SHIFT
+
OPTION
+
COMMAND
+
V
will paste without
formatting—I usually hold down
OPTION
+
COMMAND
with my thumb and hold
down
SHIFT
with my pinkie before reaching across with my index finger to
hit
V
.
• In Microsoft Office applications, you can click Edit→Paste Special and
select Unformatted Text in the dialog box that appears. (In Word 2011,
click Edit→Paste and Match Formatting.)
• If nothing else works, try this: hit
COMMAND
+
SPACE
to open Spotlight, and
then hit
COMMAND
+
V
to paste the text. Quickly after this, hit
COMMAND
+
A
to select all the text you've just pasted, and hit
COMMAND
+
X
to copy it again.
Then hit
COMMAND
+
SPACE
to close the Spotlight window (or hit
ESC
twice).
Finally, paste the text into your document, where you should find it has
been stripped of formatting.
Tip 321
Create Secure Notes
Your Mac provides no fewer than three independent and distinct methods of
creating notes.
• Using the Stickies app, found within the Applications view of Finder. This
lets you “stick” notes to the desktop and is perhaps the quickest method
