Have you ever copied text from a website or Word document and pasted it into Notepad++, only to see all the formatting vanish? It’s a common frustration when dealing with plain text editors.

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Does Notepad++ strip formatting when pasting text?

Yes, Notepad++ automatically strips formatting when pasting text. Bold, italics, colors, hyperlinks, and other styles disappear because Notepad++ is a plain text editor, not a rich text processor like MS Word or Google Docs.

Why Does This Happen?

• Notepad++ only supports plain text, meaning no font styles, colors, or special formatting.
• The clipboard stores rich text metadata, but Notepad++ ignores it during pasting.

If you need to keep formatting, you’ll have to use workarounds (which we’ll discuss below).

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Understanding Formatting in Text Editors

• What is text formatting?
  • Formatting includes bold, italics, font styles, hyperlinks, tables, etc.

• Plain text vs. Rich text
  • Plain text: Contains only characters and line breaks (e.g., Notepad, Notepad++).
  • Rich text: Supports formatting like colors, fonts, and hyperlinks (e.g., MS Word, Google Docs).

Plain Text vs. Rich Text

Feature	Plain Text (Notepad++)	Rich Text (MS Word)
Bold/Italics	❌ No	✅ Yes
Font Styles	❌ No	✅ Yes
Hyperlinks	❌ No (URL only)	✅ Yes
Tables	❌ No	✅ Yes

Notepad++ treats all text as plain text, which is why formatting disappears when pasting from sources like Word or web pages.

• How different editors handle formatting
  • MS Word: Retains formatting when pasting.
  • Notepad++: Removes all formatting to keep the text plain.

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Why Notepad++ Removes Formatting

Plain Text vs. Rich Text

• Plain text: No styling or formatting, only raw text.
• Rich text: Includes fonts, colors, bold/italics, hyperlinks, etc.
• Notepad++ is designed for code editing, so it removes all styling to ensure clean and efficient text processing.

Clipboard Handling in Notepad++

• Notepad++ pastes only raw text from the clipboard.
• It ignores formatting metadata, unlike Word/WordPad, which retain styles.

Comparison

Feature	Notepad++	MS Word	WordPad
Plain text only	✅ Yes	❌ No	❌ No
Retains formatting	❌ No	✅ Yes	✅ Yes

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How to Paste Text into Notepad++ Without Formatting Loss

Method 1: Default Pasting (Ctrl + V)

• Result: All formatting is stripped.

Method 2: Using Plugins (Optional)

• Install plugins like NppExport to export formatted text to RTF or HTML.
• Go to Plugins → NppExport → Copy all formats to the clipboard.

Method 3: Using Third-Party Tools

• Tools like PureText allow pasting as plain text system-wide.
• Keyboard shortcut (Windows): Windows + V (Clipboard history may help select formats).

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When You Want to Keep Formatting

If formatting is essential, consider these alternatives:

• Use a rich text editor like Word, Google Docs, or WordPad.
• Save as an HTML or RTF file (Notepad++ doesn’t support these directly).
• Take a screenshot if preserving layout is critical.
• Use Markdown or HTML mode in Notepad++ (for web-related formatting).

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Common Scenarios & Fixes

1. Pasting from Excel or Word

• Issue: Tables and bullets turn into plain text.
• Fix: Paste into WordPad first, then copy from there to preserve basic formatting.

2. Pasting Code from Other Sources

• Issue: Syntax highlighting disappears.
• Fix: Use Notepad++’s built-in Language syntax highlighting feature.

3. Pasting from Webpages

• Issue: Hyperlinks become plain URLs.
• Fix: Convert text to HTML format before pasting.

Read More Article:-

Will Notepad++ 32-bit work on Windows 10 Home 64-bit

Does Notepad++ Add HTML Tags Automatically?

Will Notepad++ Read JSON Files? Your Ultimate Guide

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FAQs