4 Ways to Clear All Text Formatting in Microsoft Word

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Updated July 19, 2024 Reviewed & Updated by Afam Onyimadu Expertise: Microsoft, R, SQL

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Method 1: Using Keyboard Shortcuts

With keyboard shortcuts, you can clear the text formatting within a Microsoft Word document. These shortcuts are the character and paragraph formatting shortcuts. Here’s how to use them:

Step 1: Launch Microsoft Word and the document where you must clear formatting.

Step 2: On the Word canvas, select the text from which you would like to remove all formatting. Suppose you want to remove formatting from all text in the document, press Control + A.

Selecting your text

Step 3: On your keyboard, press the Control + Spacebar keyboard shortcut to clear all character formatting (bold, underline, italics, font type, font size, etc.) in the document or selected text.

Step 5: On your keyboard, press the Control + Q keyboard shortcut to clear the paragraph formatting (paragraph indent, line spacing, etc.) in the document or selected text.

Step 6: Press the Ct rl + Shift + N keyboard shortcut on your keyboard to remove the heading and paragraph formatting in your document.

Method 2: Using Clear All Formatting in the Font Group

There is a Clear All Formatting Button within the Microsoft Word Ribbon Font group. The button removes all formatting from a text selection and returns it to an unformatted state. Here’s how it works:

Step 1: Launch Microsoft Word and the document where you must clear formatting.

Step 2: On the Word canvas, select the text from which you would like to remove all formatting. Suppose you want to remove formatting from all text in the document, press Control + A.

Selecting text on Word

Step 3: On the Word Ribbon, click the Clear All Formatting button in the Font group. This will clear character and paragraph formatting in the document or selected text.

Clear all formating option

Method 3: Using Clear Formatting in the Styles Group

If you cannot find the Clear All Formatting button on your Ribbon, you can also access the Clear Formatting option from the Styles Pane. Here’s how to do so:

Step 1: Launch Microsoft Word and the document where you must clear formatting.

Step 2: On the Word canvas, select the text from which you would like to remove all formatting. Suppose you want to remove formatting from all text in the document, press Control + A.

Selecting text on Word

Step 3: On the Word Ribbon, click the Styles drop-down in the Styles group.

Styles drop down

Step 4: Click the Clear Formatting option. This should clear character and paragraph formatting in the document or selected text.

Clearing character formating in Word

Method 4: Using the Paste Special Option

Word has many options for pasting copied text. You may use the paste special option to clear formatting, as shown below.

Step 1: Launch Microsoft Word and the document where you must clear formatting.

Step 2: On the Word canvas, select the text from which you would like to remove all formatting. Suppose you want to remove formatting from all text in the document, press Control + A.

Selecting text on Word

Step 3: Press Ctrl + X to cut the select portion.

Step 4: Right-click where you want to paste the data, and from the paste opt ions, click the icon for Keep text only.