Home page

Convert from PDF

How to Clear Formatting in Word

Jul 4 2023

Sanity Image
Read time

2.5 min

Tags

General Technology

Tips

MS Word


Read time

2.5 min


Share this post

emaillinkedIntwitter

If you’ve copied or imported text to your Word document or you’ve simply had multiple editors reviewing the document, the format of your file may not be consistent or uniform throughout. 

Now the first step is to clear all the formatting from the document so you can add in your final fonts, spacing, and styles. Here’s a quick way to do this:

Clear all Formatting

Some document types, such as business reports or legal documents, require specific formatting. 

Before you revise these documents, follow the steps below to clear all formatting and start fresh:

1. Select the part of the text where you want to remove formatting. If you want to clear formatting of all text, use the Select All (CTRL + A) option from the Editing section under the Home tab.

Accessing the Select All editing option in MS Word

2. In the same tab, click on the Clear All Formatting button.

Selecting the Clear All Formatting option in MS Word

Clear Styles Formatting

If you use one of MS Word’s pre-set Styles in your content, the Clear All Formatting button above will work only for the selected Style that’s formatting the selected text.

To clear formatting for all Styles formatting: 

1. Go to the Styles section.

2. Click on the bottom right arrow in the Styles section. 

3. Click on Clear All. 

Accessing the Clear All styles formatting option in MS Word

Remove formatting from selected text

You can easily remove formatting from selected text using a few keyboard shortcuts:

  • To remove character formatting from selected text, press Ctrl + spacebar
  • To remove paragraph formatting (such as alignment or line spacing) from selected text, press Ctrl + Q.

Removing formatting from tables

You may have trouble clearing the formatting applied to text and cells in tables, or struggle with undoing the format for each row and column. With a few clicks, you can deal with the table as a whole and remove formatting from the entire table: 

1. Select the table.

2. Go to the Table Design tab.

3. Click on the bottom right arrow in the Table Styles section.

4. Click on Clear

Option to clear table style formatting in MS Word

This removes any formatting, borders, colours, or shading from the table. 

Start clearing formatted content with Xodo

Once you’ve cleared all the formatting from your MS Word document, you can use Xodo's DOCX editor to easily start editing and adding in text and visual content you need.

Need to do more with your files? Xodo offers over 30 online tools to help with tasks like PDF conversion, editing, annotating, merging, compression, and more to get your productivity to the next level from anywhere and anytime. Get unlimited access to every tool you need in your productivity toolbox! 

Try Xodo Pro Free For 7 Days
Sanity Image

Reena Cruz

PDF Productivity Expert

Share this post

emaillinkedIntwitter

Related Articles

Sanity Image

10 Tips for Writing and Editing in Microsoft Word

From editing invisible markers to switching columns in Word, our tips can help you create and edit content in Microsoft Word quickly. Whether you're a pro writer or just starting out, our 10 tips can take your Word skills to the next level!

Sanity Image

5 Tips for Recovering an Unsaved Word Document

When Microsoft Word closes unexpectedly, it can be frustrating to lose hours of hard work. Don’t worry! There are a few ways to recover your Word document – and we’ve got them. Read on, try a few tips, and never lose a document again.

Sanity Image

How to Spell Check a PDF

While you may not be able to catch all spelling errors in lengthy PDF documents you create, you can, however, learn a quick work around for spell checking your PDF content with the help of Xodo. Ensure flawless documents with our step-by-step tutorial.

Home page

Blog

How to Merge PDF Files How to Edit Docx OnlineHow to Convert PDF to PDF/A How to Edit PDF Text

Products

Pricing & PlanXodo SignApps & IntegrationTechnology
powered_by footer.powered_by_short, footer.powered_by_follow_up footer.powered_by_pdf_sdk
apps_popup.chrome_web_store
apps_popup.google
apps_popup.apple
apps_popup.microsoft
Terms of UsePrivacy PolicyHelp us improve XodoContact UsData Processing Agreement