I'm cutting and pasting between two Word documents (.doc), and the regular text copies fine but footnotes won't cooperate. In the first document (the one I'm copying) the text is formatted Times New Roman 12. That's also the format I'm using in the destination document. When I paste into the new document it insists on Constantia.

In Word advanced copy options, three of four are set to "Match destination formatting." The only one set to "Keep source formatting" is "Pasting within the same document." I tried changing it just to be sure but it didn't make any difference. My footnote style in the destination document is Times New Roman 12, and that's what it uses if I just type the text, but when I paste from the other document it won't.

As I mentioned, all the text posts in the format I want except the footnote text from the first document. Anyone have a clue what might be going on? Thanks.

I found a workaround. I just select the text and set it to Times New Roman 12 again and that does the job. Not sure what its problem is but I think it'll be easier and faster to just use the workaround.

Others may argue differently, but in my daily professional experience since this particular group of features arrived in Word's advanced options, it has been unreliable. I deal with documents constantly, and have spent quite a bit of time playing with the controls you mention, without consistent success. Word has gotten increasingly complex, though generally much more stable, over the years. This is one place where, as a result of all the bells and whistles, "your results may vary."

A skilled colleague of mine and I spent a couple of hours on it one day several yeas ago, with a particular issue he was having with a document. We finally stumbled on a "switch" somewhere that made a difference, but a few months subsequently, neither of us could recall it. It was an option somewhere that should have had no bearing whatsoever on the formatting, but it did, that much we remember.

Our practice is to use Paste Special/Paste Unformatted always, but this is a pain to do unless you install a simple macro and assign a keyboard shortcut to it. If you have never even considered macros, this one alone is worth the small effort required to install it. The shortcut could be something as simple as Alt+V, an unassigned combination which would you would use instead of Ctrl+V, Word's built-in Paste shortcut. Your troubles (of this kind at least) will be over.

One caveat: This is one macro which, for whatever reason, Word's Macro Recorder does not comprehend; you need to copy the simple code and paste it into a Normal-template module in your (background) VBA. If you can find someone to assist you, that's easiest.

There are several versions of the needed code. Here's the one I use:

Hope this helps.
Ulodesk

Appreciate it Ulo. I'll keep the macro in mind in case I ever need it. I would just paste unformatted but then I loose italics and it's an even bigger pain to redo them. I finally just decided to create the new document without footnotes. Most of them aren't very helpful anyway.