How to Remove Formatting in Word: Text and Styles

To remove formatting in Word, select the text, then choose Home > Clear All Formatting in the ribbon. For a narrower reset, use Ctrl+Spacebar on Windows to clear character formatting, or Ctrl+Q to reset paragraph formatting; the text itself stays in place.

Remove formatting from selected text

In Word for Microsoft 365 on Windows, highlight the words or paragraphs you want to change, open the Home tab, and select Clear All Formatting in the Font group. Its icon often looks like a letter A with an eraser. The command removes applied formatting from the selection and returns it to the document’s default formatting. It is useful for cleaning text copied from a website, email, or another document.

Select the affected text. To select the whole document, click in the document body and press Ctrl+A.
Choose Home > Clear All Formatting.
Check the result. If paragraph spacing, indentation, or a list still looks wrong, use the paragraph or style controls described below.

In Word for Mac, look for Clear All Formatting on the Home tab; the precise ribbon arrangement can vary with the window size and version. In Word for the web, select the text and use the same command on the Home ribbon when it is available. If the ribbon is simplified, expand it or use Word’s search box to find the command. The keyboard shortcuts differ across operating systems and may be affected by system settings, so the ribbon command is the reliable cross-platform method.

Choose between character and paragraph formatting

Formatting has more than one layer, so a single reset may not fix every visual problem. Character formatting applies to individual letters or words: font family, font size, bold, italic, underline, font color, highlighting, and effects such as superscript. Paragraph formatting applies to a whole paragraph: alignment, line spacing, space before or after, indents, and some border and shading settings.

Windows Ctrl+Spacebar: removes direct character formatting from selected text, such as manually applied bold or color. It does not serve as a complete paragraph reset.
Windows Ctrl+Q: removes direct paragraph formatting from the selected paragraphs and returns those settings to the paragraph style’s defaults. It can undo a manually set indent or alignment without necessarily changing the font.
Clear All Formatting: is the convenient broad reset for selected content, but inspect lists, paragraph layout, and styles afterward if they remain inconsistent.

On a Mac, use the Home ribbon rather than assuming a Windows shortcut will behave the same way; Control and Command have different roles, and some key combinations are reserved by macOS or input tools. To apply Word’s Normal style on Mac, select the paragraphs and use Command+Shift+N. That changes the paragraph style, which is not identical to clearing only manual character formatting.

Remove formatting from the whole document

If the entire document has inconsistent fonts or colors, click in its main text and press Ctrl+A on Windows or Command+A on Mac, then choose Clear All Formatting. This is best for a document whose appearance is more important to standardize than its current heading design. It can also remove distinctions you intended to preserve, so consider saving a copy first or applying the reset to a smaller section as a test.

Whole-document selection can have exceptions. Headers, footers, footnotes, text boxes, and content in separate sections may need to be selected and cleaned separately. A document with a table can also behave differently depending on where the cursor is when you select; verify that the intended text is highlighted before applying a reset. If you only need to fix one pasted paragraph, select that paragraph rather than resetting the whole file.

Understand styles and direct formatting

Word’s styles are named sets of formatting, such as Normal, Title, Heading 1, and Heading 2. Direct formatting is a manual change applied on top of a style—for example, making one word in a Heading 2 paragraph red. Clearing direct formatting may leave the paragraph’s underlying style in place. That is usually helpful: a heading can retain its structural role while losing an accidental font override.

If a paragraph still has the wrong overall appearance, select the paragraph and choose an appropriate style from Home > Styles. Choose Normal for ordinary body text, or a heading style if it is a section heading. Applying Normal to every paragraph can make a document look uniform, but it also removes useful heading hierarchy. Headings help readers navigate and can support accessibility tools, so do not flatten them merely to make their font match.

When a style itself has been changed, repeatedly clearing direct formatting may not give the result you expect. Apply the intended style, or modify the style definition if you want every paragraph using that style to share the same font, spacing, and other settings. To update a style, use the Styles controls on the Home tab; the exact options depend on the Word version and whether the document uses a template.

Prevent unwanted formatting when pasting

It is often easier to avoid importing formatting than to clean it afterward. When pasting, Word may offer paste choices such as keeping the source formatting, merging formatting with the destination, or keeping text only. For plain text, choose Keep Text Only from the paste options that appear after pasting, or use the paste options menu on the Home tab. The available choices can vary with the source and Word version.

Keep Text Only removes much of the source styling, but it may also discard useful structure, such as bold labels, hyperlinks, tables, or list formatting. If the copied material has headings or a carefully organized list, paste with formatting first and then apply your document’s styles. For a short quotation or a paragraph from a web page, plain-text pasting is often faster and avoids unfamiliar fonts, colors, and spacing.

You can also change Word’s default paste behavior in its options. On Windows, open File > Options > Advanced and review the cut, copy, and paste settings. Options include how Word pastes content from other programs and within the same document. On Mac, use Word > Preferences or Word > Settings, depending on the release, and look for the paste-related settings. Changing a default affects future pastes, so choose a behavior that suits the kinds of documents you normally create.

Fix lists, spacing, and stubborn formatting

Lists are a common source of confusion because their bullets or numbering are not simply bold or font color. If a list still looks different after clearing formatting, select its paragraphs and check the Home > Paragraph controls for bullets, numbering, indentation, and alignment. You may need to turn off the list formatting, adjust the indent, or apply the desired list style. Check first whether the list’s numbering is meaningful; removing it can change the document’s organization.

For excess space between paragraphs, select the paragraphs and open the paragraph spacing controls on the Home tab. Check both line spacing and the space before or after paragraphs. A paragraph may look widely spaced even with a normal font because its style adds space after each paragraph. Conversely, changing line spacing does not remove character formatting such as colored text.

If an unwanted appearance returns after you clear it, inspect the style, theme, or document template. A style can supply a font or color even after a manual override is removed. Also check whether the selection included all of the affected text; mixed formatting can make a partial reset look as if nothing changed. Undo immediately with Ctrl+Z on Windows or Command+Z on Mac if the result removes something you wanted, then make a narrower selection and try the appropriate reset.

Clear formatting versus deleting text

Removing formatting does not delete the words, but it can remove visual cues that carry meaning. For example, a bold term may be an important label, and a colored phrase may be a hyperlink or review mark. Clearing formatting is not the same as accepting tracked changes, deleting comments, removing hyperlinks, or changing the document’s language settings. If a link remains blue and clickable, use Word’s link controls to remove the hyperlink itself rather than relying on a formatting reset.

Likewise, a document can contain special elements—fields, equations, content controls, or tracked changes—that are not ordinary typed text. Avoid selecting everything and applying multiple cleanup commands until you have checked a copy or tested a small portion. When preparing a formal document, preserve headings, list numbering, citations, and accessibility structure even if you standardize its visual style.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I remove formatting in Word but keep the text?
Select the text and choose Home > Clear All Formatting. The command changes its appearance, not its wording. Check the result for paragraph layout or list settings that may need a separate adjustment.

What is the shortcut to clear formatting in Word?
On Windows, Ctrl+Spacebar clears direct character formatting, while Ctrl+Q resets direct paragraph formatting. They do different jobs. On Mac, the ribbon’s Clear All Formatting command is the clearest option because shortcut mappings and system reservations differ.

Why does formatting remain after I click Clear All Formatting?
The remaining appearance may come from a paragraph style, a list, spacing or indentation, a table, or content outside your selection. Apply the intended style or use the relevant paragraph and list controls instead of repeating the same command.

How do I remove formatting from copied text?
Use Word’s Keep Text Only paste option when available, or paste first, select the copied passage, and choose Clear All Formatting. Plain-text pasting can remove useful links and structure, so choose it when you want the words without the source design.

Can I remove formatting from an entire Word document?
Yes. Select the document text with Ctrl+A on Windows or Command+A on Mac, then use Clear All Formatting. Review headings, lists, tables, headers, and footers afterward, since they may need separate selection or may lose formatting you want to retain.

Try it: the Date Difference Calculator: days, months, years and weekdays between two dates, with the DATEDIF formulas.

More in How-to basics

Sources: Function behaviour and menu paths: Microsoft Support documentation for Excel. Method & sources

Spotted an error in this guide? Let us know.