How to paste without formatting on a Mac

macOS has a shortcut for this, and it works well one paste at a time. Here is how to use it, what it leaves behind, and what PlainType does differently.

The built-in way: Paste and Match Style

Press ⌥⇧⌘V instead of ⌘V. The pasted text takes on the style of the text around it instead of bringing its own fonts, sizes, and colors. In apps that support it, the same command is in the Edit menu as Paste and Match Style.

Where it stops:

• It's one paste at a time. A regular ⌘V still pastes the formatted version, so you have to reach for the longer shortcut every time.
• Not every app has it. Where the command is missing, the shortcut doesn't help.
• It changes how the text looks, not what it says. Smart quotes are characters, not formatting, so curly quotes stay curly. Markdown symbols that came along with the text stay too.

Another built-in route: TextEdit

For a longer block of text, paste it into a new TextEdit document, choose Format › Make Plain Text, then copy it again. The document loses all text styles and formatting. The same limit applies: the characters themselves don't change.

What PlainType does differently

PlainType cleans text when you copy it, not when you paste it. With Auto-clean on copy turned on, it watches for rich text on the clipboard and writes back a cleaner plain-text version. After that, a regular ⌘V pastes clean text in any app.

• More than formatting. PlainType strips formatting, hidden markup, smart quotes, common Markdown artifacts, and stray whitespace from copied text.
• A shortcut when you want control. Leave auto-clean off and clean the current clipboard with the Clean button or ⌘⌥C (Command-Option-C). You can record another shortcut in Settings.
• Five recent cleans. Each one is re-copyable from the main window, and you can clear the list whenever you want.
• Local. The Mac app has no account, app analytics, backend, or network connection. Recent cleans stay on your Mac.

Which one to use

If you paste formatted text now and then, into apps that have Paste and Match Style, ⌥⇧⌘V is enough. If you paste into notes, docs, chat, email, and task trackers all day, or you need straight quotes and no leftover Markdown, cleaning once at copy time saves the extra step on every paste.

Related: Remove smart quotes and clean up copied text

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