How to Remove Formatting in Word: A Step-by-Step Guide

To remove formatting in Word, select the text (press Ctrl + A for the whole document), then click Clear All Formatting (the letter A with an eraser) in the Font group on the Home tab. The text returns to the Normal style. Clear All Formatting doesn’t remove highlighting, and the keyboard shortcuts below let you clear only character or paragraph formatting.

How to Remove Formatting in Word

In this section, we’ll guide you through the steps to remove formatting in Word, making your text neat and consistent. These instructions will help you clear away all the extra styles and ensure a clean slate.

Step 1: Select the Text You Want to Clear

Select the section of text where you want to remove the formatting.

If you want to remove formatting from the entire document, press Ctrl + A to select all the text. This will ensure that you apply your changes to every word in your document.

Step 2: Navigate to the Home Tab

Go to the ‘Home’ tab on the Ribbon at the top of the Word window.

The ‘Home’ tab is where you’ll find most of the basic text formatting tools. It’s like the toolbox of Word, filled with everything you need to manage your document’s appearance.

Step 3: Click on ‘Clear All Formatting’

In the ‘Font’ group, click on the ‘Clear All Formatting’ button, symbolized by an eraser.

This magical button wipes away all the fancy dresses your text is wearing—bye-bye to bold, italics, underlines, and more!

Step 4: Review Your Unformatted Text

Once you click ‘Clear All Formatting’, review your text to ensure it appears as you want it.

This is your chance to fix anything you might have missed. Check for any remaining oddities or inconsistencies and adjust as needed.

Step 5: Save Your Document

Don’t forget to save your document to keep your changes.

You wouldn’t want all your hard work to disappear into the digital abyss, so hit that save button to lock in your formatting reset.

Once you’ve completed these steps, your text will appear in the default style set by Word. This means all the bolds, italics, different fonts, and sizes will be history. Your document will have a unified look, ready for new formatting or a fresh start.

Other Ways to Clear Formatting

Use keyboard shortcuts in Word for Windows

Select the text first, then press one of these:

• Ctrl+Spacebar removes character formatting, such as bold, italics, font changes, and color, and returns the text to its style’s font.
• Ctrl+Q removes paragraph formatting, such as custom indents, alignment, and spacing, and returns the paragraph to its style’s settings.
• Ctrl+Shift+N applies the Normal style, which also resets headings and other styled paragraphs to plain body text.

Use Clear All in the Styles pane

1. Select the text.
2. On the Home tab, click the small arrow in the corner of the Styles group to open the Styles pane.
3. Click Clear All at the top of the list.

The text returns to the Normal style with no extra formatting.

If highlighting is still there

Clear All Formatting does not remove text highlight color. Select the text, open the Text Highlight Color menu on the Home tab, and choose No Color.

Clear formatting in Word for Mac and Word for the web

Both versions have the same Clear All Formatting button (the letter A with an eraser) on the Home tab. Select the text and click it. In Word for Mac, Control+Spacebar removes character formatting from the selected text.

Paste text without its formatting

Messy formatting often arrives when you copy text from a website, email, or another document. To paste only the words:

1. Copy the text.
2. In Word, click where the text should go.
3. On the Home tab, click the arrow under Paste.
4. Choose Keep Text Only.

The pasted text takes on the formatting of the paragraph you pasted into.

Tips for Removing Formatting in Word

• Use Ctrl + Q to quickly remove paragraph formatting from selected text, or Ctrl + Shift + N to apply the Normal style.
• Always make a copy of your document before removing formatting, just in case you need to refer back to the original.
• Utilize the ‘Format Painter’ to copy and apply consistent formatting across your document after removing unwanted styles.
• If you only want to clear specific formatting like bold or italics, use the respective buttons in the ‘Font’ group instead of clearing all formatting.
• Experiment with Word’s different ‘Style’ settings to apply new, consistent formatting across your document after clearing.

Once the text is clean, you can copy formatting from text you like and apply it to the rest of your document.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I undo the formatting removal?

Yes, you can. Simply use the Undo button or press Ctrl + Z immediately after removing the formatting.

Does removing formatting affect images or tables?

No, removing formatting only affects text. Images and tables will remain unchanged.

What happens to hyperlinks when I remove formatting?

Hyperlinks will still work, but any specialized formatting like color or underlining will be removed.

Is there a way to clear formatting from multiple documents at once?

Not directly in Word. You would need to open each document and repeat the process.

Can I remove formatting from a single paragraph?

Yes, just select the paragraph and use the ‘Clear All Formatting’ button to remove formatting only from that section.

Summary of How to Remove Formatting in Word

1. Select the text.
2. Go to the ‘Home’ tab.
3. Click ‘Clear All Formatting’.
4. Review the unformatted text.
5. Save your document.

Conclusion

Clear All Formatting is the quickest way to reset text to Word’s Normal style. For finer control, use Ctrl + Spacebar for character formatting or Ctrl + Q for paragraph formatting, and paste with Keep Text Only to stop unwanted formatting from coming in. If you remove too much, press Ctrl + Z right away.