Inspired from this idea by .

For the interim, I wrote a utility that strips the formatting from the current Clipboard contents, effectively converting it to plain text.

This is the equivalent of pasting into Notepad, selecting all and then copying from Notepad.

To use, copy as usual and then click "Click to Strip" (that bit of text, not the title bar) to remove the formatting from whatever is currently in the Clipboard:

Then paste as you normally would have.

As an example, copying these Excel cells...

When stripped and pasted into Word, become this:

Instead of this:

Use isn't confined to SW.

This utility can be used anytime you need to remove formatting back to plain text, because plain text, when pasted, assumes the destination's current format.

Shown above, "ClipStrip-AOT.exe" (Always On Top) is the window version of this utility.

The second version, "ClipStrip-HK.exe" is the Hotkey version and after you copy, you press the keystroke combination (shown in this introductory dialog) to strip the Clipboard formatting:

The third version, "ClipStrip.exe" runs once and closes after it strips.

For the AOT version, right-click "Click to Strip" to exit the utilty (or right-click the green H icon in the notification area):

For the HK version, right-click the green H icon in the notification area and select Exit (or Suspend Hotkeys to disable the hotkey without closing the utility. The green "H" becomes a green "S".).

There's no error if the Clipboard is empty.

I hope you find this utility useful.

Kevin