In Microsoft Word, whenever you press Ctrl+V to paste text from a website or another document, a small clipboard icon immediately pops up at the end of the pasted text. This is the “Paste Options” button. It hovers over your document, waiting for you to click it so you can choose whether to keep the source formatting, merge the formatting, or keep text only.
While this menu provides flexibility, it is an absolute nuisance for fast typists. The popup button physically blocks the text underneath it, forcing you to reach for your mouse or press the Escape key to dismiss it before you can comfortably read what you just pasted. If you have already configured Word to automatically paste plain text by default, this floating button serves absolutely no purpose other than cluttering your screen. You can completely disable the Paste Options popup from ever appearing.
Disabling the Paste Options Button via Word Settings
You can turn off this floating UI element deep within Word’s advanced options menu.
- Open the Microsoft Word desktop application.
- Bypass the Start Screen by clicking Blank document to enter the main editing interface.
- Look at the main menu ribbon at the top of the screen and click on File (in the top-left corner).
- Scroll all the way down the blue sidebar on the left and click on Options (usually the very last item).
- A new Options window will appear. In the left-hand menu, click on Advanced.
- Scroll down the main panel until you find the section labelled “Cut, copy, and paste” (it is usually the second or third section down).
- Look for the checkbox labelled Show Paste Options button when content is pasted.
- Click the checkbox to uncheck it.
- Click the OK button at the bottom of the window to save your changes.
The change takes effect immediately. Copy some text from your web browser and paste it into the document. The text will appear instantly, and the floating clipboard icon will be completely gone, leaving your document clean and unobstructed.