How to paste without formatting on Mac

The built-in shortcut: Option Shift Command V

Option Shift Command V runs Paste and Match Style, which drops the source formatting and takes on the style of the text around the cursor. It works in Mail, Notes, Pages, TextEdit, and most other Mac apps that list the command in their Edit menu.

If the shortcut does nothing, open the app's Edit menu. Some apps name the command differently or do not offer it, and the menu shows what the app actually supports.

In Google Docs and other web editors

Browser-based editors handle paste themselves, so they do not always listen for the Mac shortcut. Google Docs and many other web editors paste without formatting with Shift Command V. If neither shortcut works, look in the editor's own menu for a paste without formatting item.

Make Command V paste plain text everywhere

If you almost never want formatting, you can assign Command V to Paste and Match Style in every app that has that menu item.

• Open System Settings, then Keyboard, then Keyboard Shortcuts, then App Shortcuts.
• Click the plus button and choose All Applications.
• Type Paste and Match Style as the menu title, exactly as it appears in the Edit menu.
• Press Command V as the shortcut and click Done.

The trade-off of remapping

The remap only affects apps whose Edit menu has an item with that exact name. Apps that call it something else keep their normal paste, and in the apps it does affect, you lose the quick way to paste with formatting when you want it. For many people the Option Shift Command V habit is the better compromise.

Paste a clean copy from clipboard history

A clipboard manager adds an option that works on anything you copied earlier, not only the last thing. In Clip 4 Breakfast, which publishes this guide, you can pick a clip from history and paste it as plain text, while the stored original keeps its formatting in case you need it later. Plain-text paste is in the free tier.

It does not change the system default: each paste is a choice, which suits people who want formatting sometimes and not at other times. Pro adds other one-shot transforms, including trimmed text, formatted JSON, letter case, and links with tracking removed.