Word Text Pasted in Other Applications Loses Formatting

• Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 6.0, 6.0a, and 6.0c

SYMPTOMS

When you copy text from Microsoft Word and paste it into other applications, the pasted text may lose character and paragraph formatting. Some of the formatting options that do not carry over to the destination application include word wrapping in paragraphs, paragraph indents, and character-level formats such as bold and italic.

CAUSE

This problem occurs when you paste Word's text into applications that are not OLE 2.0 compatible. Word copies text to the Clipboard in OLE 2.0 format. Applications that are not OLE 2.0 compatible cannot read all the formatting that is present on the Clipboard.

STATUS

This functionality differs from Word 2.0 and is by design.

WORKAROUND

In the other application's Edit menu, see if "Word 6.0 Document Object" is available under the Paste Special option. If this option is available, you can paste the text and include the formatting. If this option is not available, you can only insert plain text.