Here’s how to use the new shortcut that Microsoft Word has included for pasting plain text

A keyboard shortcut for “Paste Text Only” will soon be available in Microsoft Word. The word processor will permit clients to glue text with next to no designing by utilizing Ctrl + Shift + V on Windows or the Cmd + Shift + V on Macintosh. In some applications, such as Microsoft Teams, Word for the web, and Gmail, that combination of keys already pastes plain text. It is currently being integrated into Word’s desktop versions.

Microsoft 365 Home and Microsoft 365 Business Standard Insiders with Windows version 16.0.15831.20174 or later and Mac version 16.67.1113.0 or later now have access to the Plain Text Only shortcut. The Microsoft 365 Insider program replaced the Office Insider Program earlier this year, so keep this in mind.

The function was made public by Microsoft in an Insider Office blog post. The company explains how to use the shortcut there:

Select a range of text from your current document, or another document or
In your Word document, place the cursor where you want the text to appear.
Press Ctrl + Shift + V (Cmd + Shift + V on Mac). Notice how the pasted content matches the neighboring text formatting, rather than preserving its original font size, color, etc.

Using the Keep Text Only option, you can fine-tune what happens when you paste plain text, such as keeping bullet points. This can be done in Word Options’ Advanced section.

Pasting plain text was previously supported by Windows and Mac versions of Microsoft Word, but it is now simpler to do so.

Additionally, Microsoft announced the following adjustments to shortcuts:

You can go back to the default settings if you don’t like the new keyboard shortcuts. Microsoft has a support document that will walk you through that procedure.

Anywhere on Windows, you can paste plain text if that’s your thing. The capability to paste plain text into any app was added in a recent PowerToys update. That has the advantage of working anyplace however the disadvantage is that utilizing that utility replaces any duplicated text with reformatted text inside the clipboard. As a result, you are unable to paste text with or without formatting into some documents.