Pasting content into WordPress

Published on Monday, May 11th, 2009 by Peter

If you had to create a web page, would you prefer to copy and paste text rather than type it out from scratch? Yes, that’s right, most people prefer the efficiency of a good old copy and paste when it is an option.
At digial coffee we generally find clients with a new or redesigned website often have text in a Microsoft document which they want to use as content for their website.

What we generally find next is that these clients get a bit of an ‘uneditable mess’ when they simply copy and paste text from Microsoft Word into WordPress.

There is a good explanation for this kind of ‘uneditable mess’, it has been documented quite well.

We have screen captured this article [120kb, Gif file] on why not to copy and paste from Microsoft Word into Wordpress from the FAQ pages of the Wordpress website.
‘Why not to use Word (with Wordpress)’ Screen captured from http://faq.wordpress.com/2006/11/09/why-not-to-use-word/

So, do you have text ready to copy and paste into your website?

There’s a simple process you can follow that will allow you to paste text from a wide variety of sources into your Wordpress website.

All you need to do is remember the ‘Paste From Word’ button in the Wordpress visual editor.

Let’s try it:
How to Paste Text From Microsoft Word Into WordPress (so you can apply your own formating)

Step 01:
(a)Open up and login to your Wordpress administration using your username and password.
(b)Once logged in, go to ‘edit’ and select the ‘page’ or ‘post’ where the content will be added.

Step 02:
Leave Wordpress open and also open the document that contains the text you want to paste from.

Step 03:
Select and copy (commonly ‘Edit > Copy’ or ‘Ctrl+V’) the text you want to paste into Wordpress.

Step 04:
(a)Go back to the Wordpress Administration which you left open on the page you want to paste the content into.
(b)Use the mouse to ‘Click’ and put the ‘Insert’ cursor where you want you text to be pasted.

Step 05:
You are ready to pate your content! Click on the ‘Paste From Word’ button in the Wordpress visual editor. The ‘Paste From Word’ window will open and you can paste your text in here and select ‘Insert’. The ‘Paste From Word’ window will close

Step 06:
Your text will be in the Wordpress page and it will be free of all Microsoft Word formatting. Now you have complete control over the text and you can apply the formatting you desire.

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