Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Understanding Smart Cut and Paste.

Understanding Smart Cut and Paste

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 3, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021


Word includes a default feature, which tries to make your editing chores just a little easier. This feature, called smart cut and paste, adds or removes spaces when you are cutting or pasting text. This may sound odd, but it is really helpful in many situations. For instance, if you are pasting a word into a sentence, smart cut and paste makes sure that spaces are added around the word so that it doesn't "run in" to the words you are pasting near.

Likewise, when you cut a word from a sentence, sometimes the cut might result in two spaces left: the ones that used to surround the word being pulled. Instead, smart cut and paste results in one of the spaces being automatically deleted so the resulting sentence has (at least) the proper number of spaces in it.

You can control smart cut and paste in the following manner:

  1. Display the Word Options dialog box. (In Word 2007 click the Office button and then click Word Options. In Word 2010 and later versions, display the File tab of the ribbon and then click Options.)
  2. Click Advanced at the left side of the dialog box and scroll down to the Cut, Copy, and Paste section. (See Figure 1.)
  3. Figure 1. The advanced options of the Word Options dialog box.

  4. Set the Use Smart Cut and Paste check box as desired. If selected, the feature is turned on; if not selected, it is off.
  5. Click the Settings button to make changes in how smart cut and paste works. (See Figure 2.)
  6. Figure 2. The Settings dialog box.

  7. Click on OK.

Note in step 4 that the Settings dialog box provides a number of different settings you can specify for how smart cut and paste work. These are the options available:

  • Adjust Sentence and Word Spacing Automatically. This option is selected, by default. When selected, Word removes or adds extra spaces, as necessary, when pasting text.
  • Adjust Paragraph Spacing on Paste. This option, when selected, results in Word removing "empty" paragraphs when pasting. It also tries to prevent inconsistent paragraph spacing.
  • Adjust Table Formatting and Alignment on Paste. Selected by default, this option controls how table "fragments" are pasted. If you paste a cell, then it is pasted as text. If you paste multiple cells (or multiple rows) they are pasted as new rows in an existing table. If you paste an entire table it is added to the existing table and formatting is modified to match the existing table.
  • Smart Style Behavior. This option, also selected by default, serves absolutely no purpose that we can discover. (So it doesn't really matter if it is selected or not.)
  • Merge Formatting when Pasting from Microsoft PowerPoint. This option is selected by default; it only comes into play when you paste information from a PowerPoint presentation into your document. If selected, Word applies the formatting of surrounding text to the pasted text. If what you are pasting includes lists, then the most recently used bullet, number, or list style (in Word) is applied to what you are pasting. The formatting of tables, hyperlinks, images, and a few other items are retained from the formatting in PowerPoint.
  • Adjust Formatting when Pasting from Microsoft Excel. This option, when selected, results in Excel data being pasted into a Word table and charts being pasted as pictures.
  • Merge Pasted Lists with Surrounding Lists. This option, selected by default, results in Word formatting pasted text to match the list into which you are pasting. (If you are not pasting into a list, it has no effect.)

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (8) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Understanding Smart Cut and Paste.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Returning the Minimum of Integers of a Range

If you have a range of numbers that contain both integers and decimal numbers, you may have a need to determine the ...

Discover More

Changing the Reference in a Named Range

Define a named range today and you may want to change the definition at some future point. It's rather easy to do, as ...

Discover More

Notification when Recalculation is Done

If you manually recalculate your workbooks, you are probably doing so because of the time it takes to do the ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! Are you ready to harness the full power of Word 2013 to create professional documents? In this comprehensive guide you'll learn the skills and techniques for efficiently building the documents you need for your professional and your personal life. Check out Word 2013 In Depth today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Selecting Just the Word

Double-click on a word and Word selects it, plus some. It also selects any trailing spaces after the word. Here's a ...

Discover More

Transposing Two Paragraphs

Need to swap two adjacent paragraphs? Your editing arsenal can include a command to do this if you use the macro in this tip.

Discover More

Stepping through Sentences

Need to select an entire sentence at once? You can do so by creating a short macro that does the task for you, or you can ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 2 + 8?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.