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While I do find Notes.app very useful, especially due to the iCloud integration with iOS counterpart apps, I am very annoyed about the text formatting used by the application.

I just want to be able to copy text from web pages and paste it as plain text in this application.

Is there any way to obtain this? Maybe some Clipboard manager that can work in background, or even another application that I can use to obtain this.

While I would like to keep bold and hyperlinks, I do not want to keep any fonts or sizes when I paste the text.

Note: the solution should be transparent — not requiring me to use extra steps for pasting, ⌘V only.

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4 Answers 4

Reset to default
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You can use OptionShift⌘-V to paste and match the current style. This removes all previous formatting, links, etc.

If you would like to make this the default action when pressing ⌘V, open System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Keyboard Shortcuts, and select Application Shortcuts from the list on the left. Then, hit + to make a new shortcut, select Notes.app from the dropdown list, enter Paste and Match Style exactly in the Menu Title box, then hit ⌘V with your cursor in the Keyboard Shortcut box. After hitting Add, you can flip back to Notes.app and click on the Edit menu to see that the shortcut has been reassigned.

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  • If I would be able to swap the shortcuts it would be a great solution! Thanks.
    – sorin
    Mar 9, 2013 at 15:07
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    @SorinSbarnea - I just updated my answer to show you how to do it.
    – MattDMo
    Mar 9, 2013 at 17:55
  • BTW, this is on Mountain Lion, not sure if the steps are different on previous versions...
    – MattDMo
    Mar 9, 2013 at 18:12
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    Also, you can go to Format > Font > Remove Style to reset formatting to default for the current note.
    – Iulian Onofrei
    Feb 2, 2015 at 8:32
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    I would add to MattDMo that instead of pasting Paste and Match Style, the one worked with me is Paste and Retain Style. After that you need to close and open Notes app.
    – Jawad Sabir
    Apr 7, 2017 at 3:27
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You can select the text in Notes app, then Format -> Font -> Remove Style. Unfortunately there's no keyboard shortcut for that command :/

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  • it does not remove tables, attempt with "Paste and Match Style" can remove tables.
    – user432672
    Jan 3, 2018 at 19:58
  • Has this changed? It's unbelievable that in 2022 this cannot be done via a shortcut or set as default
    – Eugen Sunic
    Nov 30, 2022 at 21:38
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Once you have copied the data. Instead of doing cmd-v, go to Edit -> Paste and Retain Style.

Look at this tutorial for creating a keyboard shortcut: https://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/something-copy-paste

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  • Have you looked at the Edit-menu and its shortcuts for "Paste and Match Style?" Put that in and I think your answer improves.
    – LаngLаngС
    Sep 14, 2017 at 22:17
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I actually found the keyboard combination difficult and it doesn't work in Word and Excel. Ended up getting an app from the App Store to do the job. Works great for me! Plain Text Copy

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