Microsoft makes the Format Merge feature a standard option when pasting into Word.

After a lot of user feedback and frustration, Microsoft is making changes to the default paste option. From now on, Windows users will be able to paste content into Word that will automatically merge with formatting, Microsoft said in a blog post. The changes only apply to Windows users, not Word on the web or Word for Mac.

Merge formatting

When you copy and paste content from a website into a Word document, the website’s formatting is adopted as the default paste option, causing great frustration to users. Who wants to preserve website formatting in their Word document?

Microsoft is finally making changes to this default paste option and making “Merge Formatting” the default. This means that when you paste text from another source, you no longer have to manually change the formatting to match the formatting of your Word document.

How does it work?

Go to your Word and paste the copied content into your document. By default, the content will now be displayed in the same format as your document (Merge formatting). From on Ctrl You can also select another option by clicking.

Do you still want to keep the default settings? Then navigate to file > Options > Progressive > Cut, copy and paste. Here you can specify in the dropdown which option you prefer as the default function.

This new feature is available to Word for Windows users running version 2405 (build 17624.20000) or later, but not in Word on the web or Word for Mac.