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Copy and Paste Issue Troubleshooting
Copy and Paste Issue Troubleshooting

Formatting Problems, Layout Issues

Maddy Rieman avatar
Written by Maddy Rieman
Updated over a week ago

If you're copying and pasting your text inside of the Blast Editor and it’s not keeping the original formatting, then you’ve come to the right place!

Why Is This Happening?

Copying and Pasting across different Text Editors will never be perfect. This is because every text editor is unique and may not use the same HTML language. Our editor may attempt to match as close as possible - we try to a few assumptions to be able to turn your copied text into something that can actually be sent in an email. This can sometimes lead to a number of different issues.

This problem mainly persists when copying and pasting from a Microsoft Word document or Microsoft product. This is because Microsoft uses a legacy software that focuses on backward compatibility with documents from back in the 90’s. Therefore it uses different code then what is used today. As a result, when text is copied into our text editor, the format isn’t kept because the text styles that Microsoft uses in its software are different than those used widely today.

Why Am I Seeing A Pop-Up Message When Pasting?

When pasting from Microsoft Word or Microsoft Office applications, you may see this message to let you know that formatting from the application is not always going to carry over. Here, you're given two options regarding your formatting: Clean and Keep.

Clean

When you select Clean, we'll remove the source application's formatting. The pasted content will have your organization's default font settings applied.

Keep

When you select Keep, we'll try our best to maintain your formatting or get to the closest version. This option will carry the most errors, but it can be worth trying first if you really love the formatting options you already may have applied.

Please note: In rare cases when using content from another source, even when you select Clean, it may sometimes be that formatting from the application has attached itself and may appear when opening the email in Outlook for Windows. Please make sure to send a sample when using copied content, just to make sure.

Recommendations

There are a few suggestions we recommend:

  1. When possible, write text content in the Blast Text editor.

  2. If it can be avoided, use a text editor that is not a Microsoft product.

  3. If you must use a Microsoft product, or are having issues copying text from an editor in any way, you can right click and “Paste without formatting.” This will remove all formatting of the text you’re copying. You will have to reformat the text in the Blast Editor, but there won’t be anything different or broken.

  4. Paste content from Microsoft Office Applications in a basic Text Editor like Notepad or WordPad on Windows, or TextEdit on macOS.

  5. Make sure to send a sample to yourself for review when using copied content, just to make sure.

  6. When in doubt, Clear Formatting after pasting. You may have to reapply links, but it's a great way to start from scratch if something isn't working as expected.


If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at support@cerkl.com or use the support Chat toward the bottom right-hand corner of any cerkl.com page.


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