Clear or Remove Text Formatting in a Word Document
by Avantix Learning Team | Updated October 3, 2022 Applies to: Microsoft® Word® 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021 and 365 (Windows) You can use keyboard shortcuts or the Ribbon to clear formatting in a Word document. Since there are two types of text formatting (character and paragraph), you can choose to clear all formatting or just character or paragraph formatting. If you want to clear formatting for text where a specific style has been applied, you’ll need to select the text that uses the style first and then remove the formatting. In Word, when you apply formatting to selected text using commands in the Font or Paragraph group on the Home tab in the Ribbon, you are applying direct or manual formatting in addition to the style applied to the text (the Normal style by default). Note: Buttons and Ribbon tabs may display in a different way (with or without text) depending on your version of Word, the size of your screen and your Control Panel settings. For newer versions of Word, Ribbon tabs may appear with different names. Recommended article: 14 Microsoft Word Shortcuts to Quickly Select Text Do you want to learn more about Microsoft Word? Check out our virtual classroom or in-person classroom Word courses >
Clear formatting from selected text using keyboard shortcuts
To clear formatting from selected text using keyboard shortcuts:
- Press Ctrl + Spacebar to clear character formatting only (such as bold, font and font size) from selected text.
- Press Ctrl + Q to clear paragraph formatting only (such as indents and line spacing) from selected text.
- Press Ctrl + Shift + N to reapply the Normal style to selected text.
If you want to select the entire document first, press Ctrl + A to select all and then you can use these shortcuts.
Clear formatting from selected text using the Ribbon
To clear formatting using the Clear Formatting command in the Ribbon:
- Select the text with the formatting you want to remove.
- Click the Home tab in the Ribbon.
- In the Font group, click Clear All Formatting. This will remove both character and paragraph formatting and return the text to the Normal style.
Clear All Formatting appears on the Home tab in the Ribbon in the Font group (as an A with an eraser):
Clear all formatting in a Word document
To clear all text formatting in a Word document:
- Click in a paragraph in the document and press Ctrl + A to select all. This will select the text in the document but not text in headers, footers, text boxes, shapes or SmartArt.
- Click the Home tab in the Ribbon.
- In the Font group, click Clear All Formatting.
Clear all formatting from paragraphs using the Normal style
You may not want to clear formatting from your entire document (for example, if you are using heading styles for headings). In this case, you could select all paragraphs using the Normal style and clear formatting. To select paragraphs using the Normal style and clear formatting:
- Click in a paragraph using the Normal style.
- Click the Home tab in the Ribbon.
- In the Styles gallery, right-click Normal. A drop-down menu appears.
- Click Select All.
- Click the Home tab in the Ribbon.
- In the Font group, click Clear All Formatting. This will remove both character and paragraph formatting and return the text to the Normal style. You can also press Ctrl + Shift + N.
The context menu appears when you right-click Normal in the Styles gallery: You can also select other paragraphs using specific styles in the Styles gallery and reapply the style by clicking the style again in the gallery.
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Microsoft Word: Intermediate / Advanced Microsoft Excel: Intermediate / Advanced Microsoft PowerPoint: Intermediate / Advanced Microsoft Word: Long Documents Master Class Microsoft Word: Styles, Templates and Tables of Contents Microsoft Word: Designing Dynamic Word Documents Using Fields VIEW MORE COURSES > Our instructor-led courses are delivered in virtual classroom format or at our downtown Toronto location at 18 King Street East, Suite 1400, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (some in-person classroom courses may also be delivered at an alternate downtown Toronto location). Contact us at [email protected] if you’d like to arrange custom instructor-led virtual classroom or onsite training on a date that’s convenient for you. Copyright 2022 Avantix® Learning Microsoft, the Microsoft logo, Microsoft Office and related Microsoft applications and logos are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in Canada, US and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of the registered owners. Avantix Learning |18 King Street East, Suite 1400, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5C 1C4 | Contact us at [email protected] Step 3: Use your mouse to highlight the text for which you want to clear the formatting, or press Ctrl + A to select the entire document.
Step 4: Click the Clear All Formatting button in the Font section of the ribbon at the top of the window.
Summary – How to clear formatting in Word 2013
- Select the desired text, or press Ctrl + A to select the entire document.
- Click the Home tab at the top of the window.
- Click the Clear All Formatting button in the Font section of the ribbon.
Do you have a lot of important Word documents stored on your computer? Or do you have copies of pictures from an important event that would be difficult to replace? You might want to consider getting an external hard drive and saving copies of those files to that drive in case something every happens to your computer. Find out how to easily create page numbers in Word 2013. Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read over 50 million times. After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites. His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.
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