How to copy and paste a cell in a table in Word without losing the formatting? Announcing the...
What did Darwin mean by 'squib' here?
What loss function to use when labels are probabilities?
Cold is to Refrigerator as warm is to?
Is above average number of years spent on PhD considered a red flag in future academia or industry positions?
Can a zero nonce be safely used with AES-GCM if the key is random and never used again?
Is 1 ppb equal to 1 μg/kg?
How to set letter above or below the symbol?
Stopping real property loss from eroding embankment
Stars Make Stars
Determine whether f is a function, an injection, a surjection
How should I respond to a player wanting to catch a sword between their hands?
90's book, teen horror
How can I make names more distinctive without making them longer?
Why use gamma over alpha radiation?
Why is "Captain Marvel" translated as male in Portugal?
How is simplicity better than precision and clarity in prose?
How does modal jazz use chord progressions?
What would be Julian Assange's expected punishment, on the current English criminal law?
What can I do if my MacBook isn’t charging but already ran out?
What is the order of Mitzvot in Rambam's Sefer Hamitzvot?
How do I keep my slimes from escaping their pens?
What to do with post with dry rot?
Is it possible to ask for a hotel room without minibar/extra services?
Need a suitable toxic chemical for a murder plot in my novel
How to copy and paste a cell in a table in Word without losing the formatting?
Announcing the arrival of Valued Associate #679: Cesar Manara
Planned maintenance scheduled April 17/18, 2019 at 00:00UTC (8:00pm US/Eastern)Microsoft Word RTF formatting breaks after pasting in HTML and savingHow do I get Word 2010 to ignore background fill colours for tables whilst using Windows High Contrast modeCopy from Word 2010 paste into Notepad includes bullets and numbersLinking Excel 2013 cell to Word 2013 table cell adds unwanted line breaksPreserving table borders and shades while converting to text in word 2010Can't change table background color in the header in Microsoft Word 2011Preserve custom styles using copy-paste (not via Save As or the organizer)Code background from Visual StudioHow to copy data from a CSV file opened in Excel, into a Word table?How to copy different fill colors of a table column in Word 2010?
.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty{ height:90px;width:728px;box-sizing:border-box;
}
I have a table in a document, in Word 2010.
How can I copy and paste a cell? The whole cell, not its content.
I copy a cell, it has a grey background with hatching ("shading"). Then I paste it over some other cell in my table. Word stupidly loses the formatting. The destination cell is still white.
I have tried the various "paste options" that are proposed at right click. To no avail.
Is there a solution?
Thank you.
[Edited: link to image.]
microsoft-word microsoft-word-2010 copy-paste format cells
add a comment |
I have a table in a document, in Word 2010.
How can I copy and paste a cell? The whole cell, not its content.
I copy a cell, it has a grey background with hatching ("shading"). Then I paste it over some other cell in my table. Word stupidly loses the formatting. The destination cell is still white.
I have tried the various "paste options" that are proposed at right click. To no avail.
Is there a solution?
Thank you.
[Edited: link to image.]
microsoft-word microsoft-word-2010 copy-paste format cells
add a comment |
I have a table in a document, in Word 2010.
How can I copy and paste a cell? The whole cell, not its content.
I copy a cell, it has a grey background with hatching ("shading"). Then I paste it over some other cell in my table. Word stupidly loses the formatting. The destination cell is still white.
I have tried the various "paste options" that are proposed at right click. To no avail.
Is there a solution?
Thank you.
[Edited: link to image.]
microsoft-word microsoft-word-2010 copy-paste format cells
I have a table in a document, in Word 2010.
How can I copy and paste a cell? The whole cell, not its content.
I copy a cell, it has a grey background with hatching ("shading"). Then I paste it over some other cell in my table. Word stupidly loses the formatting. The destination cell is still white.
I have tried the various "paste options" that are proposed at right click. To no avail.
Is there a solution?
Thank you.
[Edited: link to image.]
microsoft-word microsoft-word-2010 copy-paste format cells
microsoft-word microsoft-word-2010 copy-paste format cells
edited Jun 15 '15 at 15:27
Nicolas Barbulesco
asked Jun 9 '15 at 12:02
Nicolas BarbulescoNicolas Barbulesco
2363716
2363716
add a comment |
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
You need to copy the content of the cell not the cell itself. This takes a bit of practice and is mightily annoying!
If you see the grey, you've selected too much. The easiest way is to click in the cell and press ctrl-a then copy. If the paste doesn't do what you expect, check what you've set the default paste to. You can, of course, control the paste type after you paste or you can do a paste special.
UPDATE: Oops! Never noticed that ctrl-a selects everything and I've been using Word for decades!
As an alternative. Click at the start of the cell, then shift-end. Then still holding down shift, use the back arrow to go back one. That last part is important as it changes from selecting the cell to selecting the content. I actually tried it this time so hopefully no more embarrassments.
UPDATE 2: Now that we know you want to copy the format and not the content, we can focus on the best way to do that. Which is to create a style and apply the style to all the cells you want to have the same style. You can also assign a keyboard shortcut to a style to make things even easier.
UPDATE 3: Just to be absolutely clear. The format for a paragraph is contained in the (normally hidden) end paragraph mark. It is this that is selected when you do shift-end, turn on visible paragraph marks to see this more clearly. In a table, this changes to a cell marker rather than a paragraph on. To copy the formatting for a paragraph (or cell), you have to include that mark in your selection.
To Turn a formatted cell into a style, show the style panel, select the cell, click on the "New Style" button. The resulting new style dialogue should already be formatted as per the cell. Give this a name and set the shortcut. Save the style to normal.dot if you want it always available otherwise save it to the document. Now in any cell, simply select your style (no need to select the cell) and the cell will be formatted accordingly.
The "extra thought" is a one-off and need never be repeated if you save the style in normal.dot (the default Word template).
1) My cell is empty! But I had tried with some text in it, I did not find a solution. When I write some content in the cell, and I copy it, then I get the content pasted, not the cell, and not the format.
– Nicolas Barbulesco
Jun 12 '15 at 13:27
2) I click in the cell. I press Ctrl A. This selects my whole Word document, that is the whole table and more.
– Nicolas Barbulesco
Jun 12 '15 at 13:28
Why are you copying an empty cell? The rest I've updated.
– Julian Knight
Jun 12 '15 at 13:43
Julian, regarding your variant : 1) The last part is important indeed, it changes from selecting the cell to selecting nothing ; I get back the blinking cursor. 2) After I write some text in the cell, your technique copies the content, but then pasting pastes only the content, not the cell, so I don't get the format of the cell.
– Nicolas Barbulesco
Jun 15 '15 at 14:57
1
Please see the next update
– Julian Knight
Jun 16 '15 at 18:42
|
show 5 more comments
After trying and playing with the same subject find out the very strange behaviour of Word:
- select cell
- copy cell
- move to another cell
- paste (special - cell with formatting)
*) result - the content is copied, but the format (shading, borders still old properties) - paste (special - cell with formatting)
*) simply repeat the paste command second time
**) result - formatting is also copied, new cell has new properties (shading, border style)
I assume that this is a strange feature of Word.
New contributor
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "3"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: true,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: 10,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fsuperuser.com%2fquestions%2f925653%2fhow-to-copy-and-paste-a-cell-in-a-table-in-word-without-losing-the-formatting%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
You need to copy the content of the cell not the cell itself. This takes a bit of practice and is mightily annoying!
If you see the grey, you've selected too much. The easiest way is to click in the cell and press ctrl-a then copy. If the paste doesn't do what you expect, check what you've set the default paste to. You can, of course, control the paste type after you paste or you can do a paste special.
UPDATE: Oops! Never noticed that ctrl-a selects everything and I've been using Word for decades!
As an alternative. Click at the start of the cell, then shift-end. Then still holding down shift, use the back arrow to go back one. That last part is important as it changes from selecting the cell to selecting the content. I actually tried it this time so hopefully no more embarrassments.
UPDATE 2: Now that we know you want to copy the format and not the content, we can focus on the best way to do that. Which is to create a style and apply the style to all the cells you want to have the same style. You can also assign a keyboard shortcut to a style to make things even easier.
UPDATE 3: Just to be absolutely clear. The format for a paragraph is contained in the (normally hidden) end paragraph mark. It is this that is selected when you do shift-end, turn on visible paragraph marks to see this more clearly. In a table, this changes to a cell marker rather than a paragraph on. To copy the formatting for a paragraph (or cell), you have to include that mark in your selection.
To Turn a formatted cell into a style, show the style panel, select the cell, click on the "New Style" button. The resulting new style dialogue should already be formatted as per the cell. Give this a name and set the shortcut. Save the style to normal.dot if you want it always available otherwise save it to the document. Now in any cell, simply select your style (no need to select the cell) and the cell will be formatted accordingly.
The "extra thought" is a one-off and need never be repeated if you save the style in normal.dot (the default Word template).
1) My cell is empty! But I had tried with some text in it, I did not find a solution. When I write some content in the cell, and I copy it, then I get the content pasted, not the cell, and not the format.
– Nicolas Barbulesco
Jun 12 '15 at 13:27
2) I click in the cell. I press Ctrl A. This selects my whole Word document, that is the whole table and more.
– Nicolas Barbulesco
Jun 12 '15 at 13:28
Why are you copying an empty cell? The rest I've updated.
– Julian Knight
Jun 12 '15 at 13:43
Julian, regarding your variant : 1) The last part is important indeed, it changes from selecting the cell to selecting nothing ; I get back the blinking cursor. 2) After I write some text in the cell, your technique copies the content, but then pasting pastes only the content, not the cell, so I don't get the format of the cell.
– Nicolas Barbulesco
Jun 15 '15 at 14:57
1
Please see the next update
– Julian Knight
Jun 16 '15 at 18:42
|
show 5 more comments
You need to copy the content of the cell not the cell itself. This takes a bit of practice and is mightily annoying!
If you see the grey, you've selected too much. The easiest way is to click in the cell and press ctrl-a then copy. If the paste doesn't do what you expect, check what you've set the default paste to. You can, of course, control the paste type after you paste or you can do a paste special.
UPDATE: Oops! Never noticed that ctrl-a selects everything and I've been using Word for decades!
As an alternative. Click at the start of the cell, then shift-end. Then still holding down shift, use the back arrow to go back one. That last part is important as it changes from selecting the cell to selecting the content. I actually tried it this time so hopefully no more embarrassments.
UPDATE 2: Now that we know you want to copy the format and not the content, we can focus on the best way to do that. Which is to create a style and apply the style to all the cells you want to have the same style. You can also assign a keyboard shortcut to a style to make things even easier.
UPDATE 3: Just to be absolutely clear. The format for a paragraph is contained in the (normally hidden) end paragraph mark. It is this that is selected when you do shift-end, turn on visible paragraph marks to see this more clearly. In a table, this changes to a cell marker rather than a paragraph on. To copy the formatting for a paragraph (or cell), you have to include that mark in your selection.
To Turn a formatted cell into a style, show the style panel, select the cell, click on the "New Style" button. The resulting new style dialogue should already be formatted as per the cell. Give this a name and set the shortcut. Save the style to normal.dot if you want it always available otherwise save it to the document. Now in any cell, simply select your style (no need to select the cell) and the cell will be formatted accordingly.
The "extra thought" is a one-off and need never be repeated if you save the style in normal.dot (the default Word template).
1) My cell is empty! But I had tried with some text in it, I did not find a solution. When I write some content in the cell, and I copy it, then I get the content pasted, not the cell, and not the format.
– Nicolas Barbulesco
Jun 12 '15 at 13:27
2) I click in the cell. I press Ctrl A. This selects my whole Word document, that is the whole table and more.
– Nicolas Barbulesco
Jun 12 '15 at 13:28
Why are you copying an empty cell? The rest I've updated.
– Julian Knight
Jun 12 '15 at 13:43
Julian, regarding your variant : 1) The last part is important indeed, it changes from selecting the cell to selecting nothing ; I get back the blinking cursor. 2) After I write some text in the cell, your technique copies the content, but then pasting pastes only the content, not the cell, so I don't get the format of the cell.
– Nicolas Barbulesco
Jun 15 '15 at 14:57
1
Please see the next update
– Julian Knight
Jun 16 '15 at 18:42
|
show 5 more comments
You need to copy the content of the cell not the cell itself. This takes a bit of practice and is mightily annoying!
If you see the grey, you've selected too much. The easiest way is to click in the cell and press ctrl-a then copy. If the paste doesn't do what you expect, check what you've set the default paste to. You can, of course, control the paste type after you paste or you can do a paste special.
UPDATE: Oops! Never noticed that ctrl-a selects everything and I've been using Word for decades!
As an alternative. Click at the start of the cell, then shift-end. Then still holding down shift, use the back arrow to go back one. That last part is important as it changes from selecting the cell to selecting the content. I actually tried it this time so hopefully no more embarrassments.
UPDATE 2: Now that we know you want to copy the format and not the content, we can focus on the best way to do that. Which is to create a style and apply the style to all the cells you want to have the same style. You can also assign a keyboard shortcut to a style to make things even easier.
UPDATE 3: Just to be absolutely clear. The format for a paragraph is contained in the (normally hidden) end paragraph mark. It is this that is selected when you do shift-end, turn on visible paragraph marks to see this more clearly. In a table, this changes to a cell marker rather than a paragraph on. To copy the formatting for a paragraph (or cell), you have to include that mark in your selection.
To Turn a formatted cell into a style, show the style panel, select the cell, click on the "New Style" button. The resulting new style dialogue should already be formatted as per the cell. Give this a name and set the shortcut. Save the style to normal.dot if you want it always available otherwise save it to the document. Now in any cell, simply select your style (no need to select the cell) and the cell will be formatted accordingly.
The "extra thought" is a one-off and need never be repeated if you save the style in normal.dot (the default Word template).
You need to copy the content of the cell not the cell itself. This takes a bit of practice and is mightily annoying!
If you see the grey, you've selected too much. The easiest way is to click in the cell and press ctrl-a then copy. If the paste doesn't do what you expect, check what you've set the default paste to. You can, of course, control the paste type after you paste or you can do a paste special.
UPDATE: Oops! Never noticed that ctrl-a selects everything and I've been using Word for decades!
As an alternative. Click at the start of the cell, then shift-end. Then still holding down shift, use the back arrow to go back one. That last part is important as it changes from selecting the cell to selecting the content. I actually tried it this time so hopefully no more embarrassments.
UPDATE 2: Now that we know you want to copy the format and not the content, we can focus on the best way to do that. Which is to create a style and apply the style to all the cells you want to have the same style. You can also assign a keyboard shortcut to a style to make things even easier.
UPDATE 3: Just to be absolutely clear. The format for a paragraph is contained in the (normally hidden) end paragraph mark. It is this that is selected when you do shift-end, turn on visible paragraph marks to see this more clearly. In a table, this changes to a cell marker rather than a paragraph on. To copy the formatting for a paragraph (or cell), you have to include that mark in your selection.
To Turn a formatted cell into a style, show the style panel, select the cell, click on the "New Style" button. The resulting new style dialogue should already be formatted as per the cell. Give this a name and set the shortcut. Save the style to normal.dot if you want it always available otherwise save it to the document. Now in any cell, simply select your style (no need to select the cell) and the cell will be formatted accordingly.
The "extra thought" is a one-off and need never be repeated if you save the style in normal.dot (the default Word template).
edited Jun 16 '15 at 18:42
answered Jun 9 '15 at 16:03
Julian KnightJulian Knight
13k11536
13k11536
1) My cell is empty! But I had tried with some text in it, I did not find a solution. When I write some content in the cell, and I copy it, then I get the content pasted, not the cell, and not the format.
– Nicolas Barbulesco
Jun 12 '15 at 13:27
2) I click in the cell. I press Ctrl A. This selects my whole Word document, that is the whole table and more.
– Nicolas Barbulesco
Jun 12 '15 at 13:28
Why are you copying an empty cell? The rest I've updated.
– Julian Knight
Jun 12 '15 at 13:43
Julian, regarding your variant : 1) The last part is important indeed, it changes from selecting the cell to selecting nothing ; I get back the blinking cursor. 2) After I write some text in the cell, your technique copies the content, but then pasting pastes only the content, not the cell, so I don't get the format of the cell.
– Nicolas Barbulesco
Jun 15 '15 at 14:57
1
Please see the next update
– Julian Knight
Jun 16 '15 at 18:42
|
show 5 more comments
1) My cell is empty! But I had tried with some text in it, I did not find a solution. When I write some content in the cell, and I copy it, then I get the content pasted, not the cell, and not the format.
– Nicolas Barbulesco
Jun 12 '15 at 13:27
2) I click in the cell. I press Ctrl A. This selects my whole Word document, that is the whole table and more.
– Nicolas Barbulesco
Jun 12 '15 at 13:28
Why are you copying an empty cell? The rest I've updated.
– Julian Knight
Jun 12 '15 at 13:43
Julian, regarding your variant : 1) The last part is important indeed, it changes from selecting the cell to selecting nothing ; I get back the blinking cursor. 2) After I write some text in the cell, your technique copies the content, but then pasting pastes only the content, not the cell, so I don't get the format of the cell.
– Nicolas Barbulesco
Jun 15 '15 at 14:57
1
Please see the next update
– Julian Knight
Jun 16 '15 at 18:42
1) My cell is empty! But I had tried with some text in it, I did not find a solution. When I write some content in the cell, and I copy it, then I get the content pasted, not the cell, and not the format.
– Nicolas Barbulesco
Jun 12 '15 at 13:27
1) My cell is empty! But I had tried with some text in it, I did not find a solution. When I write some content in the cell, and I copy it, then I get the content pasted, not the cell, and not the format.
– Nicolas Barbulesco
Jun 12 '15 at 13:27
2) I click in the cell. I press Ctrl A. This selects my whole Word document, that is the whole table and more.
– Nicolas Barbulesco
Jun 12 '15 at 13:28
2) I click in the cell. I press Ctrl A. This selects my whole Word document, that is the whole table and more.
– Nicolas Barbulesco
Jun 12 '15 at 13:28
Why are you copying an empty cell? The rest I've updated.
– Julian Knight
Jun 12 '15 at 13:43
Why are you copying an empty cell? The rest I've updated.
– Julian Knight
Jun 12 '15 at 13:43
Julian, regarding your variant : 1) The last part is important indeed, it changes from selecting the cell to selecting nothing ; I get back the blinking cursor. 2) After I write some text in the cell, your technique copies the content, but then pasting pastes only the content, not the cell, so I don't get the format of the cell.
– Nicolas Barbulesco
Jun 15 '15 at 14:57
Julian, regarding your variant : 1) The last part is important indeed, it changes from selecting the cell to selecting nothing ; I get back the blinking cursor. 2) After I write some text in the cell, your technique copies the content, but then pasting pastes only the content, not the cell, so I don't get the format of the cell.
– Nicolas Barbulesco
Jun 15 '15 at 14:57
1
1
Please see the next update
– Julian Knight
Jun 16 '15 at 18:42
Please see the next update
– Julian Knight
Jun 16 '15 at 18:42
|
show 5 more comments
After trying and playing with the same subject find out the very strange behaviour of Word:
- select cell
- copy cell
- move to another cell
- paste (special - cell with formatting)
*) result - the content is copied, but the format (shading, borders still old properties) - paste (special - cell with formatting)
*) simply repeat the paste command second time
**) result - formatting is also copied, new cell has new properties (shading, border style)
I assume that this is a strange feature of Word.
New contributor
add a comment |
After trying and playing with the same subject find out the very strange behaviour of Word:
- select cell
- copy cell
- move to another cell
- paste (special - cell with formatting)
*) result - the content is copied, but the format (shading, borders still old properties) - paste (special - cell with formatting)
*) simply repeat the paste command second time
**) result - formatting is also copied, new cell has new properties (shading, border style)
I assume that this is a strange feature of Word.
New contributor
add a comment |
After trying and playing with the same subject find out the very strange behaviour of Word:
- select cell
- copy cell
- move to another cell
- paste (special - cell with formatting)
*) result - the content is copied, but the format (shading, borders still old properties) - paste (special - cell with formatting)
*) simply repeat the paste command second time
**) result - formatting is also copied, new cell has new properties (shading, border style)
I assume that this is a strange feature of Word.
New contributor
After trying and playing with the same subject find out the very strange behaviour of Word:
- select cell
- copy cell
- move to another cell
- paste (special - cell with formatting)
*) result - the content is copied, but the format (shading, borders still old properties) - paste (special - cell with formatting)
*) simply repeat the paste command second time
**) result - formatting is also copied, new cell has new properties (shading, border style)
I assume that this is a strange feature of Word.
New contributor
edited yesterday
Glorfindel
1,51451220
1,51451220
New contributor
answered yesterday
Nikolay VyglazovNikolay Vyglazov
1
1
New contributor
New contributor
add a comment |
add a comment |
Thanks for contributing an answer to Super User!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fsuperuser.com%2fquestions%2f925653%2fhow-to-copy-and-paste-a-cell-in-a-table-in-word-without-losing-the-formatting%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown