Windows only 
There are some things I never understood with Microsoft. For example, why was it never possible until Windows 7 to have a keyboard shortcut for creating a new folder? Or for that matter why was there not even a toolbar icon you could add to perform that action? At least in Windows 7 they finally assigned Ctrl+Shift+N for creating a new folder, but that’s not the only thing that’s perplexed me.
Another thing that bothers me is why they make it so difficult to paste plain text in Microsoft Office. In Office 2007 you have to click the menu button located underneath the “Paste” icon, select “Paste Special”, select the “Unformatted Text” option, and then click “OK.” Really? I mean really? When I click the paste menu why would it not offer me three options: paste, paste unformatted, and paste special? I have a hard time believing that I’m the only one with this issue. Oh well, I know I’m talking to a wall.
If you feel the same way there’s a pretty nice app called PureText that makes the whole process a lot easier. You can create a customizable keyboard shortcut (default is Windows Key+V) that when pressed will insert the clipboard contents as plain text. All text formatting will be removed, but line breaks, tabs, and other “white space” is preserved. The clipboard contents also remains in-tact so that you can still paste the formatted version using Ctrl+V later on down the road if you need to. And the cherry on top is that it works across all Windows applications.
PureText is free, and doesn’t require any installation. All you have to do is download and run it to get started where it will sit in your System Tray. Just click on the icon if you want to change any of the settings.
PureText Homepage (Windows only; Freeware; Portable; Tested on Windows 7 64-bit)
I prefer to use the free s/w ClipX. It’s a clipboard history manager. When we paste any items from its menu (invoked by a custom hotkey like ctrl+shift+v), the item gets pasted w/o formatting.
It says a lot that it’s taken the debacle that was Vista to get M$ listening to customers.
Yep, I’ve missed unformatted copy/paste too, sometimes Paste special is just not available so I’ve had to paste into a txt file and then cut and paste again. It’s the 21st Century FFS!
Well, I had a good laugh. Linux, e.g. Ubuntu, was capable of using shortcuts for a long time. You can assign your own system wide shortcuts as many as you like- a special tab lists the most common and you can add new ones.
As for Office 2007, out of the office you can use OpenOffice.org and all is set. But at my office desk I agree, that 2007 is a nuissance and all of my colleagues are wishing Billy to hell.
I hope Linux evolves to a new OS where it can compete in EVERY aspect against Microsoft.
In Open Office Writer: Shift+Ctrl+V and then select Unformatted Text to paste plain text.
Awesome: I’ll make sure to remember that shortcut.
Ha! I was browsing through these entries and I saw “Thor” and nearly jumped out of my seat. That’s my name – is it yours?
Anyway, I’ve been looking for a way to create kybrd shortcut that will allow me to paste a set piece of text (no matter what I put on the clipboard). So for example, if I wanted to paste “The notes have been entered for 10/30/2009″ in several different documents, databases, etc. through a kybrd shortcut (say, CTRL VP or something)would that be possible?
Thanks in advance.
Thor
I guess not…
I guess not…
Thor too
I guess not.
Thor too