U
Uriel Wittenberg
Regular paste (ctrl-V) isn't an option in the following situations:
1. Copy from a webpage to MS Word;
2. Copy from MS Word to Outlook Express plaintext message composition
window.
In the case of #1, your computer is liable to freeze for a prolonged
period of time as MS does something clever to convert formats.
As for #2, that paste operation arouses OE bugs that have been known for
years. The plaintext composition window, despite being "plaintext,"
invisibly retains unwanted formatting that results in messages being
severely uglified -- but only at the instant of SEND, when it's too late
to stop it.
Before discovering THE BETTER WAY, my fingers had become quite agile in
making rapid detours to the format-free oasis of Notepad for the purpose
of delousing text. To paste from Word to OE, for example, I would:
- copy to clipboard (in Word)
- switch to Notepad
- paste
- select all
- copy to clipboard
- switch to OE
- paste
But now, a utility recommended to me on the
microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie6_outlookexpress newsgroup has
changed this routine to:
- copy to clipboard (in Word)
- switch to OE
- smart-paste
I'm still trying to get used to it.
To top it off, smart-paste gives you a nice confirmation sound effect.
The utility is PureText, available for free at
http://www.stevemiller.net/puretext/ . The smart-paste keystroke is
Windows-V by default.
"Smart-paste" is my word, not stevemiller's. In a simpler world,
formatted text would be smart and 1960's-style ASCII text would be dumb.
But with buggy software, less is more, and smart becomes dumber.
I have only a tiny quibble which is really just academic since it makes
no practical difference to me. It'd be a bit smarter if the smart-paste
operation left the clipboard unchanged, rather than stripping its
contents of formatting.
P.S. I'm in no way affiliated with stevemiller.net; I'm just a grateful
user.
P.P.S. Freezing and stealth uglification occur at least with Windows XP
/ Word 2000 / Outlook 6; probably other versions too.
1. Copy from a webpage to MS Word;
2. Copy from MS Word to Outlook Express plaintext message composition
window.
In the case of #1, your computer is liable to freeze for a prolonged
period of time as MS does something clever to convert formats.
As for #2, that paste operation arouses OE bugs that have been known for
years. The plaintext composition window, despite being "plaintext,"
invisibly retains unwanted formatting that results in messages being
severely uglified -- but only at the instant of SEND, when it's too late
to stop it.
Before discovering THE BETTER WAY, my fingers had become quite agile in
making rapid detours to the format-free oasis of Notepad for the purpose
of delousing text. To paste from Word to OE, for example, I would:
- copy to clipboard (in Word)
- switch to Notepad
- paste
- select all
- copy to clipboard
- switch to OE
- paste
But now, a utility recommended to me on the
microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie6_outlookexpress newsgroup has
changed this routine to:
- copy to clipboard (in Word)
- switch to OE
- smart-paste
I'm still trying to get used to it.
To top it off, smart-paste gives you a nice confirmation sound effect.
The utility is PureText, available for free at
http://www.stevemiller.net/puretext/ . The smart-paste keystroke is
Windows-V by default.
"Smart-paste" is my word, not stevemiller's. In a simpler world,
formatted text would be smart and 1960's-style ASCII text would be dumb.
But with buggy software, less is more, and smart becomes dumber.
I have only a tiny quibble which is really just academic since it makes
no practical difference to me. It'd be a bit smarter if the smart-paste
operation left the clipboard unchanged, rather than stripping its
contents of formatting.
P.S. I'm in no way affiliated with stevemiller.net; I'm just a grateful
user.
P.P.S. Freezing and stealth uglification occur at least with Windows XP
/ Word 2000 / Outlook 6; probably other versions too.