The trouble with pasting from Microsoft Word

The trouble with pasting from Microsoft Word

by Deleted user -
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The trouble with pasting from Microsoft Word

On learn.gold some people are pasting text from their word processor e.g. Microsoft Word directly into learn.gold. This isn't an unreasonable expectation - however the problem is that word processed text can carry with it formatting and layout (i.e. 'styles') information, which the Web browser attempts to interpret. These original styles can fight with the styles of the web page into which you are pasting, and strange things ensue.

To avoid the problem:
  1. Prior to pasting, convert what you have copied into plain text by pasting it first into a plain text editor (e.g. Notepad in Windows, TextEdit in Macs) and then copying it from there. This is the best approach and only takes a few extra seconds.
  2. By implication, avoid applying formatting and layout to your word-processed text if you know you are only going to paste it somewhere else - keep it plain and simple.
  3. If you have pasted formatted text directly into learn.gold, you can clean it up by clicking the little MSWord icon in learn.gold's text editor (however this does not always work).
Incidentally, these problems are not limited to learn.gold - so the guidance above is also true if you edit your Goldsmiths web page using the Web Team's CMS. Sorry things aren't straightforward (yet). Considering these different pieces of software developed independently and (for MS Word) in the absence of interoperability standards, I tend to marvel that they work at all.

More on copying, pasting and learn.gold in this FAQ.