Paste Without Formatting on Mac (⌃⌘V + System Shortcuts)
You copy a polished paragraph from a webpage, Slack, or Notion. You hit Command + V in Notes, Mail, or a form field — and the old font, color, and highlight come with it. That is normal macOS pasteboard behavior: rich flavors travel with the clip.
Paste without formatting on Mac (paste as plain text) drops that baggage so the destination keeps its own style. This guide leads with Paste It!’s global shortcut, then covers Apple’s built-in Paste and Match Style and a few app-specific quirks.
Disclosure: we make Paste It!, a free and open-source Mac clipboard manager. Control + Command + V is our paste-without-formatting hotkey — not a system menu command.
Updated August 2026.
Quick answer
| Goal | Do this |
|---|---|
| Paste the current clipboard as plain text, keep the rich original for later ⌘V | Paste It! → Control + Command + V (⌃⌘V) |
| Paste a history clip as plain text | Open Shift + Command + V → Shift + Return, or right-click → Copy as Plain Text |
| No manager installed — Apple apps only | Option + Shift + Command + V (⌥⇧⌘V) — Edit → Paste and Match Style |
| Make Match Style the default in Cocoa apps | System Settings → Keyboard → App Shortcuts → map Paste and Match Style to ⌘V |
What “paste without formatting” means
macOS often stores RTF, HTML, and other pasteboard flavors alongside plain text. Command + V prefers the richest flavor the destination accepts. A plain-text paste forces the text flavor so fonts, colors, and highlights from the source do not land in the destination.
Method 1 — Paste It!: Control + Command + V
Paste It! registers a global hotkey: Control + Command + V (Paste Without Formatting in the menu bar).
What it does:
- Reads plain text from the current system clipboard.
- Temporarily writes that plain text to the pasteboard.
- Synthesizes a paste into the frontmost app (Accessibility required for the auto-paste step).
- Restores the original rich clipboard so a later normal Command + V still has the formatted copy.
That restore step is the product difference versus “strip forever” workflows: one clean paste, clipboard unchanged afterward.
How to use it
- Download Paste It! (macOS 14+) and leave it running.
- Grant Accessibility when you want ⌃⌘V to auto-paste (without it, Paste It! can still stage plain text and ask you to press ⌘V).
- Copy anything with formatting.
- Focus the destination field and press Control + Command + V.
You can also choose Paste Without Formatting from the Paste It! menu bar item (same ⌃⌘V chord).
Optional: Settings → Paste as plain text by default so staging from the timeline prefers plain text. Timeline extras: Shift + Return pastes the selection as plain text; right-click → Copy as Plain Text.
⌃⌘V alone does not open history — it acts on the live pasteboard. For an older clip, open history with Shift + Command + V first, then use Shift + Return / Copy as Plain Text. More on history: how clipboard history works on Mac. Features overview: History, panel shortcuts.
Method 2 — System: Paste and Match Style (⌥⇧⌘V)
Apple apps that implement the menu item use:
Edit → Paste and Match Style · shortcut Option + Shift + Command + V
Works well in: TextEdit, Notes, Mail, Pages, Keynote, many Cocoa apps.
Limits:
- Not every app implements the menu item — the shortcut may do nothing.
- Behavior is “match destination style,” which is close to plain paste but not identical in every editor.
- It only affects that one paste; it does not give you clipboard history.
Optional remap
System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → App Shortcuts → add Paste and Match Style with shortcut Command + V (All Applications or one app). Apps without that menu title keep normal paste.
Method 3 — App-specific shortcuts
| App | Practical plain / unformatted paste |
|---|---|
| Google Docs (browser) | Often Command + Shift + V |
| Microsoft Word | Paste Special / unformatted text (verify in your build) |
| Slack / Notion / web apps | Use the site’s “Paste as text” / “match style” when the Mac menu is missing |
| Terminal | Already plain text |
When Electron or web apps ignore macOS menu remaps, an in-app command — or Paste It!’s ⌃⌘V — is more reliable than hoping every destination implements Match Style.
Which should you use?
- Need one clean paste and keep the rich clipboard → Paste It! ⌃⌘V.
- Need an older clip as plain text → Paste It! history → Shift + Return / Copy as Plain Text.
- No third-party app, Apple editor only → system ⌥⇧⌘V.
- Also want searchable history, OCR, Paste Stack → download Paste It!; plain paste is one shortcut on top of clipboard history.
macOS Tahoe Spotlight history helps with recent clips but is not a dedicated plain-paste tool — see Does Mac have clipboard history? (Tahoe). Free shortlist: best free clipboard managers for Mac.
FAQ
What is Paste It!’s paste without formatting shortcut?
Control + Command + V (⌃⌘V). It pastes the current clipboard as plain text and restores the original clipboard afterward. Auto-paste needs Accessibility.
What is the built-in macOS shortcut?
In apps that support it: Option + Shift + Command + V — Paste and Match Style. That is Apple’s menu command, not Paste It!.
Does ⌃⌘V change my clipboard permanently?
No. Paste It! snapshots the pasteboard, writes plain text for the paste, then restores the snapshot so a later Command + V can still use the rich copy.
Can I paste without formatting from clipboard history?
Yes in Paste It!: open Shift + Command + V, then Shift + Return or Copy as Plain Text. ⌃⌘V alone uses the current system clipboard, not a picked history card.
Why does Command + V still paste with formatting?
You used normal paste, the app has no Match Style command, or a web editor swallowed the shortcut. Try ⌃⌘V with Paste It! running, or that app’s own plain-paste command.
Ready for clean paste without losing the rich clipboard? Download Paste It!, press Control + Command + V, and keep working. More: Features, best free clipboard managers, and how clipboard history works on Mac.