Paste Plain Text

[pseingalt]

I’m trying to copy plain text from a pdf. There is no “paste special” option in Scrivener, just “paste and match style.” I’ve added a shortcut, but there’s no way to define the preferences, all you can do is define a short cut.

For that matter, there seems to be no way to turn numbering off in Scrivener once it starts. Is there a way to turn numbering off? This occurs when I copy text that is numbered in the pdf and paste it (remmber-no paste plain text) and I end up with a Scrivener document containing dozens of unwanted numbered paragraphs.

Perhaps it’s time to renew my request for a “text-only” mode for Scrivener. This would turn Scrivener into a Markdown editor, IDE and other roles I haven’t thought of yet.

[Vincent_Vincent]

@pseingalt

but there’s no way to define the preferences,

It’ll match the formatting already in place where you paste.
If you want it to look different, a formatting just for whatever you paste in, define a style. You’ll otherwise lose that “special” formatting at compile anyways.
By the way, if you paste stuff from outside of Scrivener, Paste and Match Style is the way to go, if you want to spare yourself the problems that may arise from foreign formatting.

@pseingalt

there seems to be no way to turn numbering off in Scrivener once it starts

Return return.
Or use the list menu. NONE

But again : Paste and Match Style right off the start. Speaking of potential problems : you wouldn’t be having your numbering issue.

[JimRac]

@pseingalt

I’m trying to copy plain text from a pdf.

As @Vincent_Vincent suggests above, Paste and Match Style is the way to go.

Or you can first paste your text into a true plain text app*, then copy from there to Scriv.

*On Windows that would be something like Notepad.

Best,
Jim

[Vincent_Vincent]

@JimRac

into a true plain text app

The synopsis panel. (For the no-difference it can make. Text pasted using Paste and Match Style is first stripped of all formatting.)
. . . . .

[JimRac]

@Vincent_Vincent

Text pasted using Paste and Match Style is first stripped of all formatting.)

Yes, exactly. But for some yet to be explained reason, @pseingalt doesn’t want to use Paste and Match Style, so I was giving them an alternate method.

[kewms]

@pseingalt

I’m trying to copy plain text from a pdf. There is no “paste special” option in Scrivener, just “paste and match style.”

Technically speaking, Scrivener’s editor does not support “plain text.” It is a rich text editor, and so text will always have an associated font, font size, line spacing, and so on.

“Paste and match style” will remove formatting associated with the text on the clipboard, matching it to the rich text attributes of the destination. But “paste plain text” is not a meaningful command.

What specifically are you trying to do?

[pseingalt]

I set my editor to use Courier font, 12 pt, single space. I brought some text over which included numbered items. These numbered items should have just been numbers and not an active list, but somehow, the list (in LaTeX-speak, \item) was still active and soon became unmanageable. I had to go back and re-do the chapter.

Mac’s internal TextEdit is a program that can be changed from rtf to plain text at the flip of a switch. I vote that similar functionality should be given Scrivener. It turns the program into an IDE when wanted, and as a side benefit avoids gremlins brought over when pasting from other programs.

Scrivener has Markdown (well, Multimarkdown) which is plain text, and compiling lets you go from or into LaTeX, so you’re almost there.

[kewms]

@pseingalt

I set my editor to use Courier font, 12 pt, single space. I brought some text over which included numbered items. These numbered items should have just been numbers and not an active list, but somehow, the list (in LaTeX-speak, \item) was still active and soon became unmanageable. I had to go back and re-do the chapter.

You might try using the Format → Lists → None command on that text.