Turning Off the Clipboard Icon

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 2, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365


1

Often when Steve is writing a Word document, he sees an icon of a clipboard and piece of paper. It normally appears just to the right of an edit. If he clicks the icon, it provides three or four choices. Steve finds this icon very annoying, as it often covers a word he's working on and he can't get rid of it. Steve never uses this icon and wonders if there is any way of turning off this "feature" so the icon never appears.

The icon to which Steve is referring is most likely the Paste Options box, as it has a small clipboard displayed on it. The Paste Options box appears when you paste something into a document, just to the right of whatever it is that you pasted. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Paste Options box.

The icon drives some people nuts, but (believe it or not) it can actually be quite helpful. For instance, if you are pasting information that you copied from another document and you don't want to transfer the formatting to the current document, there is an option for that type of paste within the drop-down.

The other thing to keep in mind is that you can get rid of the Paste Options box by immediately pressing the Esc key after it appears. (Some folks think you need to do some other edit in order to make it go away; not so—a simple Esc press should do the trick.)

If you are bound and determined to get rid of it, you can configure Word to not display it. Follow these steps:

  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. At the left side of the dialog box click Advanced.
  3. Scroll through the available options until you get to the Cut, Copy, and Paste section. (See Figure 2.)
  4. Figure 2. The Cut, Copy, and Paste section of the Word Options dialog box.

  5. Clear the Show Paste Options Button option (Word 2007) or the Show Paste Options Button When Content Is Pasted option (later versions of Word).
  6. Click OK.

The Paste Options box should no longer appear as you copy and paste information on your system.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (13446) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365.

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

Making Pasted Images the Same Size as the Original

Using the Snipping tool to place an image into a Word document can produce often confusing results. This tip looks at the ...

Discover More

Creating a Footer

Adding a predefined footer to your worksheets is easy, and it helps convey valuable information when you make a printout. ...

Discover More

Getting Rid of Hidden Text in Many Files

Hidden text is a great boon if you want to make sure something doesn't show up on the screen or on a printout. If you ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2019. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2019 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Added Spaces when Dragging and Dropping Paragraphs

When using Word's editing tools, you may notice some extraneous spaces left where you don't want them. This tip addresses ...

Discover More

How Word Handles Abbreviations

Abbreviations appear all over the place in our society. If you want to understand how Word recognizes them (which it has ...

Discover More

Consistent Spacing

It is a good idea to make sure that the spacing following each sentence in your document is consistent. Here's a handy ...

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 eight more than 6?

2023-09-04 05:04:26

Jan

That's a great tip. Thank you.


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.