PCs:
The simplest solution is to paste any text you want to strip of formatting into Notepad first, then copy it again. Once you grab Notepad’s version, you should have only the text without any colors or alternative fonts attached to it.
When you paste in Microsoft Office, a small pop-up menu displays that allows you to choose the formatting:
Keep Source Formatting will preserve the text as you copied it (keyboard shortcut: CTRL + K after pasting)
Merge Formatting will force the text you’re pasting to match the text around it (keyboard shortcut: CTRL + M after pasting).
Keep Text Only will take only the text and give it no other formatting (keyboard shortcut: CTRL+ T after pasting). This is our recommended option.
Mac OS X:
You can use Shift + Command + V to paste without formatting (or with whatever format the pasted text is placed into).
Using TextEdit (the Mac equivalent to Notepad), you can copy and paste text as in the first method outlined above. You may need to choose Format > Make Plain Text (Command + Shift + T). To leave formatting out by default, go to Preferences > Format and select Plain Text.