How to paste without formatting on Mac

The simplest way: SeventyPlain running quietly

Turn on SeventyPlain once: from then on, anything you copy with formatting (bold, colors, fonts) arrives plain when pasted, anywhere. Nothing to repeat on every copy-paste, nothing to remember.

Download the free SeventyPlain trial (7 days, macOS 13+).

The shortcut built into macOS

Some apps (TextEdit, Pages) offer "Paste and Match Style" from the Edit menu or ⌥⇧⌘V. It works, but you need to remember it every time, and many widely used apps (browsers, chat apps, code editors) don't offer it at all.

The plain-text-editor detour

Another common habit: paste into TextEdit's plain text mode or into Notes first, then copy again from there. It works, but it adds two extra steps every time, and it's easy to miss a hidden bit of formatting in the result.

Mistakes to avoid

• Relying on a shortcut that changes per app: some don't offer it at all.
• Taking a manual detour (paste elsewhere, copy again) every time: it takes time and gets skipped under pressure.
• Installing a heavy utility that runs constantly: clipboard cleanup should cost close to nothing in resources.

Get SeventyPlain: set it once, and it's handled everywhere.