The Proper Way to Paste MS Word Text into your WordPress Blog Post or Page

by jupiterjim on January 18, 2012

This WordPress video tutorial shows you the proper way to copy text from an MS Word document and paste it directly into your WordPress blog post or page. The main reason you want to use this special technique (which is really quite simple) is to make sure that no “extraneous code” is embedded into your blog post or page. Some extraneous code may simply cause bloated code (excessive, non-productive code) and some may cause more serious problems to your WordPress blog post or page. Using the special technique for pasting MS Word text into your WordPress blog or website can also help preserve some of the formatting (such as bold, italic, underline, tables, colors, etc.). However, there are other times when you just want to copy the text from an MS Word document, but not all the fancy styling and layout and formatting. The best way to end up copying the text but not the formatting is another special, but similiar, technique that is clearly demonstrated in the video. It’s all very easy to do, but something that most people never learned how to do because they were never told how or shown how in a video like the one below. Please support this blog and these FREE WordPress Video Tutorials by leaving your comments below:

Tagged as: MS Word, Pasting

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Thanks for your COMMENTS!

Sincerely,

Jupiter Jim

{ 70 comments… read them below or add one }

John Gaydon January 18, 2012 at 5:46 AM

Hi Jim,

Yes, this is a great tip. So simple.

I find if you use formatting compatable with your blog style sheet everything works really well. I publish direct from word.
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jupiterjim January 22, 2012 at 5:01 PM: John,

Glad you like!!!

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Mandy Swift January 18, 2012 at 6:32 AM

hi Jim,
I got into SUCH a mess before I discovered this tip! As you say, the main problem is the backend code which becomes horribly messy and it messes a lot of other stuff up as well.
I never knew, but there is actually a word for it – it is called “messy html” (original, huh?!) and Google hates it. It will hurt your seo plus people viewing from mobile devices may see all kinds of wierd stuff.
Great tutorial. I think it will seriously help a lot of people – and certainly sace some hair tugging moments
Mandy Swift recently posted..Getting Back To Basics – Understanding Your Online Marketing ‘A,B,C’

jupiterjim January 22, 2012 at 5:00 PM: Mandy,

thanks for your heartfelt comment. I appreciate everything you share about online marketing on your site as well!!! Keep in touch!

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Nile January 18, 2012 at 2:12 PM

I normally just type in my WP post or page as I have a spell checker enabled in my Google toolbar.

A long time ago I did start in MS Word, but noticed how it stripped and translated the syntax over. For example, quotation marks would come up wrong and in the W3 validator, mark my single posts as not valid coding.

I know over the years this issue has been touched by the core developers and I always thought integrating in to the core the same way LiveJournal allows you to smoothly copy and paste the MS Word code without issues would be a really nice touch.
Nile recently posted..Brand Your WordPress Login Page Without A Plugin

jupiterjim January 22, 2012 at 4:59 PM: Nile,

Wow, as usual, I can see that you know tons about WordPress, LiveJournal and more. Thanks for sharing!

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Ciproxin January 19, 2012 at 2:07 AM

Yah it’s very simple to paste a text data from ms word to wordpress.but you should consider the text format in a word.
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dimaks January 19, 2012 at 9:27 AM

Great tips! In relation to this, I usually paste things from MS Word to WordPress HTML tab. This way, no codes are being carried out. It comes handy for me. Sometimes, I just create my blog post draft using notepad. It is way safer.
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Justin January 19, 2012 at 12:24 PM

Awesome. Sadly, my wordpress blog does not have the paste from Word option. Do I have the wrong version? How do I fix it?

Carolyn January 19, 2012 at 8:12 PM: Hi Justin, I’m not Jupiter Jim, but just wanted to let you know that you should go into Visual mode and then to the left of the smilie face icon, click the Show/Hide Kitchen Sink icon and you will see another row of icons appear. You will recognize the icons shown in Jim’s awesome video then.
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Carolyn January 19, 2012 at 8:10 PM

Hi Jupiter Jim,

Great tutorial! I have done this though and somehow my tables from Word always get messed up. I have resorted to taking screen caps of my tables and then inserting them as images into my posts.

My lists get messed up too. Hmm…

Perhaps I will give the lists and tables another try now that I’ve watched your tutorials.
Carolyn recently posted..Poll: Have You Ever Read an eBook?

jupiterjim January 20, 2012 at 2:08 AM: Carolyn,

Please let me know if that solved your problem and then please report back here to let us know if this technique worked for you. I, and, I am sure, many other future readers of this post would love to know the answer to that question!

Thanks for your comments and for helping out Justin!

– Jupiter Jim

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Astro Gremlin January 20, 2012 at 1:29 AM

I wonder how many people actually use the WordPress “Just Write” setting? I can’t seem to stay there long. My most productive strategy: Use Word with Dragon Naturally Speaking then paste it into WP. Sure, lot’s of tweaks still to do, but a good sized chunk of text, fast!
Astro Gremlin recently posted..Biggest Camping Secret

Always10 - Top 10 List Collection January 20, 2012 at 7:14 AM

As what I expect with you Jim. Nice tips and never knew it that this would be as easy as that. Natural writers does always find a way to make things better. keep it up.
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wilbert santos January 20, 2012 at 7:27 AM

thanks for this post jim. Very useful for a beginner to wordpress like me.
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Ion Gonzaga ( January 20, 2012 at 8:12 AM

great one. one simple tip as well is to copy the text into Notepad first before copying to the WP text editor.
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Herbert January 20, 2012 at 8:27 AM

Based on my experience, every time I made a post, I usually draft it on MS Word, I dont have problems in terms of font sizes and formats unlike in blogger, you need to copy the text from MS Word to Notepad to retain the default font of blogger text editor.

Liz Money Web January 20, 2012 at 10:06 AM

When copying blog post from Word docs, I usually paste in HTML tab of Wordpress. I’m sure you’ll help a lot of people with this tutorial Jim.

Kid January 20, 2012 at 10:25 AM

Hey, Thanks for sharing. So simple yet so helpful.
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Tara Woodruff January 20, 2012 at 11:28 AM

Thank You Jim! This simplifies the process so sweetly!
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Stacy January 20, 2012 at 11:53 AM

great tip! Wish I knew this sooner
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dimaks January 20, 2012 at 10:29 PM

i look forward to more tips from this blog Jim. Surely, the handy tips you shared in this post are indispensable reference specially to those new in blogging.
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Edz January 20, 2012 at 11:48 PM

This a great tutorial for people who are not into coding and wants an instant proof reader

Jonha January 21, 2012 at 6:36 AM

Pretty cool, gotta keep this tutorial handy as I prefer writing using the MS Word. Thanks Jim!
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jupiterjim January 22, 2012 at 4:49 PM: Jonha,

well, hopefully you only have to watch it one time to get it, but I do hope you share with your blogger friends!

Reply

Kelly Rudolph January 21, 2012 at 9:04 PM

Thank you, Jim. I knew part of what you covered in the video and learned a lot as well. Great job. I appreciate you! ♥

jupiterjim January 22, 2012 at 4:49 PM: Thanks, Kelly! Love your blog and left a comment their too!

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Testin #2 January 23, 2012 at 2:42 AM

This is a test of the system!
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Jayne Kopp January 23, 2012 at 2:49 AM

Hi Jim. It is so great to be here and meet you!!

I really appreciate this post! Believe it or not, I have always known it wasn’t ‘recommended’ to paste in directly from Word, however, I just thought it was because sometimes ‘links’ don’t work because of the “”… I didn’t realize there was ‘other’ code in Word that could cause problems.

I wonder if because I have continued to post from Word… that my posting time is ridiculously SLOW?? Urrgg sometimes posting a post is such a painful procedure as my Dashboard is incredibly jerky and almost non responsive at times.

What do you think?

Thanks Jim. I can’t wait to learn more from you. Lovely to have a new “Techi” friend in my back pocket!!

Thanks

Jayne
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Ann January 23, 2012 at 1:15 PM

Thank you, Jim. I just discovered a lot of extraneous stuff on one of my blog posts. I thought it was the image I used, but it could be because I just copied and pasted from Word to my blog. This could be why.
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marquita herald January 23, 2012 at 2:04 PM

Excellent tutorial and I can see you’ve already helped a lot of people with this information!
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james January 23, 2012 at 3:36 PM

very interesting
and haha, i like that “messy html”
thanks heaps

james

Lynda Cromar January 24, 2012 at 5:36 PM

Jim I really appreciate your easy and straight forward tutorials! Now I have used that way of inserting word docs as a post, but I never really realized that it would help the post not have code that could slow it down, thanks for sharing that!
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Tim Greeting Card Guy January 25, 2012 at 12:10 AM

I have always has issues when pasting text from a word document – Thanks!
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Stuart January 25, 2012 at 2:45 AM

With this tutorial, I can now paste my ms words in my wordpress perfectly. I usually edit it when I have posted my article in my website. Thanks for the tutorial.
Stuart recently posted..Tinnitus Ginkgo Biloba Treatment – Does It Cure Tinnitus?

Willena Flewelling January 25, 2012 at 3:20 AM

Very helpful post, Jim! Simple and straightforward enough that even I can do it! Usually I either write straight in the box, or I copy and paste from an email draft. It works fine for text, but not so great for anything I want formatted. Thanks for the tutorial!

Willena Flewelling
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Lily January 25, 2012 at 12:12 PM

Thanks a million about this! It was driving me mad that simple copy-paste action wasn’t enough and the formatting went all bad.
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fitness tips January 26, 2012 at 12:37 AM

Your post is excellent and useful for all. And the topic selection has been well. Thanks for sharing.

Vic January 26, 2012 at 9:52 AM

Hi Jim. Thanks for this useful video. I’m sure bloggers out there will be happy to find your tutorials. In my case, I usually paste my article in a notepad, then paste to MS word, then paste to blog post.
Vic recently posted..16 Blogging Tips to Make You a Pro Blogger

Srinivas Reddy January 29, 2012 at 3:13 AM

Very useful tutorial for many and a life-saver for many others, Jim. I always use a plain text editor when creating my draft, then copy and paste that into WP and do the formatting there.
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Kostas January 29, 2012 at 7:17 AM

Very useful video Jim, usually I do the same with Srinivas I use a plain text editor and then I paste it on wordpress, most of the times when I tried to use MS Word it looked pretty messy so your tutorial is certainly helpful for me, thanks for sharing…
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Eldon Beard January 30, 2012 at 9:07 AM

Thanks Jim, this is great because a lot of people are not aware that material you copy from Word carries all that junk with it that can mess up your blog. I usually compose my posts in Notepad and then copy/paste into Wordpress but there are definitely occasions when bringing something over from Word is necessary.
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Gravity Fashion February 1, 2012 at 6:39 AM

such a nice post is this with great information
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Kass February 1, 2012 at 9:37 PM

This is a great guide, too many times when copying over I get funny characters showing up on the page when its published inplace of what looked normal in word
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Pastor Sherry February 2, 2012 at 8:36 PM

You know what? I didn’t know there was a problem cutting and pasting — I’ve cut and pasted every single blog I’ve written, from WordPerfect, and have never had a problem. I don’t use Word — it’s too confusing, and doesn’t always do what I want. WordPerfect is more powerful, and user-friendly.

However, I’ve never tried to do special formatting, such as tables or ordered lists. I’m assuming the button for Word would also keep the formatting from WordPerfect. Think I’ll try it!

We could start a revolution if we all just switched to WordPerfect . . . : )
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Paul February 3, 2012 at 1:03 PM

I generally just type write into my wsiwyg editor on my wordpress site. If I post any other way it is just by copying a notepad document and pasting it in. Guess there are easier ways of doing the editing so that a person does not need to be online at the time of the post creation. Will look into trying other ways. Who says old dogs can’t learn new tricks.

Brid February 3, 2012 at 9:53 PM

After 3 years, I’ve finally figured out to flipping format in Wordpress. I swear it’s the hardest part. I find it’s easier for me to write everything out in wordpress as opposed to MS word or notepad or something.
-Brid

Smart Jenks February 3, 2012 at 11:40 PM

It’s always a challenge when MS’s font styles and extra code are carried over when copying, if I have to I’ll generally paste content in HTML mode and reformat any special fonts and styling. Ideally, writing and drafting posts in the WordPress editor is the way to go and makes life simpler. Windows Live Writer is another solution for those that MUST us MS products, although I’ve found that too doesn’t work with all themes.
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Ryan Taylor February 5, 2012 at 5:22 AM

This is a wonderful. It seems so simple now.

Thanks for sharing the video & the post.

-Ryan
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Sadie-michaela Harris February 7, 2012 at 10:11 AM

Top tip Jim!
It’s very important and often over looked, I tend to paste text copied from word into Notepad – a regular text document and then paste it from there. There is nothing worse than dirty code and as you’ve shown it’s easy to keep it clean.

Paul Reimers February 7, 2012 at 8:18 PM

Thanks for the great tip Jim,

I used to write my posts in Word and then copy and paste them when I first started blogging, but there was a little formatting problem so I just write and save drafts in my back office.

I know that word does some extra formatting stuff so for some article places, I just use notepad.

This tip is great, because it can allow someone to do more advanced formatting in Word that could stand out from what is normally done in Wordpress and just move it over.

Thanks Jim!
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Anthony February 8, 2012 at 5:56 AM

Good post, I like this WordPress video tutorial. Its very beneficiary to me. Can you post another technique ???
Thanks………
Anthony
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This surely a great guide to follow. I am always looking for some ways to costumize my WordPress Blog Post.
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john February 22, 2012 at 9:35 AM

youre right…its great, i also find that as well copying the text into Notepad first before copying to the WP text editor helps too

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Ruth April 11, 2012 at 3:24 AM

Hi Jim, this tip is very helpful especially to me.I always encountered problem when I am pasting my blog from word to WordPress. Thank you very much to them.
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Lydia Brown August 17, 2012 at 9:43 PM

Thanks for this tip Jim I publish from Word all the time and have silently wondered if it would cause problems one day.
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jupiterjim August 18, 2012 at 12:54 PM: Lydia,

Yes, it definitely helps to do the right thing when it comes to pasting MS Word text into a WordPress blog post!

Thanks for sharing!

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David Scott April 25, 2013 at 7:05 PM

Hi Jim. How do I copy text-wrapped text boxes from Word to WP?

jupiterjim April 26, 2013 at 6:54 AM: David,

I don’t know if this will work but there is a little MS Word button in the toolbar of the post you can use. You can even look up my video on my YouTube Channel (it may also be on this site) How to paste MS Word into WordPress blog post or page. Maybe that will work. Or maybe the Ultimate TinyMCE plugin would work? Or you have to write the CSS code yourself, I guess. I hope this helps a little.
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