OUTLOOK Change default formatting when you paste text to your emails

If you tend to copy text from other programs (such as Word) and paste it into an email you’re writing, you’ll notice that it retains Word’s original font and formatting (bold, italics, underline and more). This is also the case when you copy and paste text from one email to another. There’s an easy way to change this default setting if you find it annoying.

First, click Outlook’s File tab, Options, Mail at the top left, then the Editor Options button at the top right. Next, click Advanced at the top left, then scroll to the ‘Cut, copy, and paste’ section. Here, you’ll see two options: ‘Pasting from other programs’ and ‘Pasting between e-mails’ with dropdown menus. Both menus have three options - of which ‘Keep Source Formatting (Default)’ is selected.

Select Merge Formatting from the dropdown menu if you want to retain Outlook’s default font but use its formatting whenever you paste text into a new email. Select Keep Text Only (see screenshot below left) if you want to retain Outlook’s default font and remove all text formatting whenever you paste text. Click OK twice to confirm your changes.