In Microsoft Office 2007 and later this is located in Home > Paste menu (the arrow underneath the clipboard icon) > Paste Special… In newer versions a small clipboard icon may appear at the end of the text after pasting. Formatting can be selected here after the fact. In OpenOffice this is located in File > Edit > Paste Special. Google Docs has a similar option located in Edit > Paste Special, but only works for copy/paste within the browser.
To retain all formatting from the text, press “Keep Source Formatting” or “HTML Format” To retain only the text formatting, but not pictures, press “Keep Text Only”. If both documents have special formatting, like lists or tables that you want to combine, press “Merge Formatting. ”
Most modern email clients or office software will enable HTML formatting by default, whether it’s a web client, like Gmail/Google Docs, or a separate piece of software, like Microsoft Word/Outlook. Software that is either very old or very simple, like WordPad, Notepad, or TextEdit will not support HTML format.
For example, formatting options can be toggled in Outlook in Tools > Options > Mail Format.
Go to File > Save As… and select Web Page (. htm or . html) from the “Save As Type” menu. This path may vary depending on the word processor you are using.
Drag and drop the . html file onto your browser icon. Right-click the . html file and select “Open With…” and select your web browser from the list.
