The Missing Paste Commands

The Tools>Customize dialog in Word is a treasure trove of hidden commands that you can make easily accessible by dragging to a toolbar, or by defining a keyboard shortcut for. Oddly, however, two frequently desired commands have not been pre-defined: Edit>Paste Special Unformatted Text, and in Word 2004, Paste Matching Destination Format.

Since Word 2004 broke the macro recorder for anything involving the Edit>Paste Special command, here are the macros you would need. If you haven't a clue what to do with this gibberish, click here for installation instructions.

Paste Unformatted Text

Sub PasteUnformattedText()
'
' equivalent to Edit>Paste Special>Unformatted Text and to using
' the smart button in Word 2004 to select "keep text only"
'
Selection.PasteSpecial datatype:=wdPasteText
End Sub

Paste and Match the Formatting in the Destination Document

Sub PasteDestFormat()
'
' equivalent to using the paste options smart button in Word 2004 to
' select "match destination formatting" after pasting
'
Selection.PasteAndFormat (wdFormatSurroundingFormattingWithEmphasis)
End Sub

Make the Macros Easy to Use

Keyboard Shortcut: Once the macros are installed in your Word setup, you can assign a keyboard command to them. Click Tools>Customize, select Macros in the left column, select the appropriate macro in the right column, enter a keyboard shortcut below. Word will warn you if the shortcut is already assigned.

Toolbar Icon: Once the macros are installed in your Word setup, you can put them on a toolbar. Click Tools>Customize, and go to the Commands panel. Select Macros in the left column, select the appropriate macro in the right column, click it and hold, and drag it to a toolbar.

Control-click or right-click the new toolbar icon and select Properties. In the Properties dialog, the View dropdown menu will let you set whatever combination of text and icon you prefer. The arrow next to the icon will produce a dropdown menu that lets you pick an icon. To create a custom icon, you must create your own picture (normally 20x20 pixels) in any image editor, and use the Paste Button Image command to transfer it to Word. New in Word 2004: you can also click Keyboard... from the Properties dialog to assign a keyboard shortcut.