HOWTO: Clear all formatting?

[kskobac 2]

Is there any way using the Evernote Mac desktop app that you can completely clear formatting from text? The "simplify formatting" is terribly inconsistent.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Is there any way using the Evernote Mac desktop app that you can completely clear formatting from text? The "simplify formatting" is terribly inconsistent.

hi. welcome to the forums! i am afraid the answer is no. i have been lobbying for a plain text option for about a year now. i still hold out hope for it!

in the meantime, run it through a text edior, or use formatmatch (app). i use formatmatch on a daily basis. i sure wish i had it on the ipad, because the situation there is even more textastrous. in celebration of geek pride day, maybe the developers will hear our pleas

[AndyDent 97]

I am working on an app which will make this possible however it's second in line behind my DevCup entry. First out will be an iOS version closely followed by the OS/X and then Windows (I don't do Android, yet).

It's a side-feature of an app which is a MultiMarkdown-based editor also allowing power users to directly edit raw ENML.

[Carpii 4]

'Clear all formatting' is the single most useful feature Id like to see added to Evernote.

Its really annoying that if I copy a table cell, or text with some funky line spacing, Evernote tries to preserve it as some hybrid HTML, without any options to disable this.

I then have to copy it all, paste it into a flat text editor, paste it back into evernote and reapply any simple formatting like bold, italic etc.

Seriously thinking about going back to VoodooPad and Dropbox. Right now the Evernote editor feels like Frontpage from 1991

[AndyDent 97]

My focus with this app is on power-users who want to tweak raw ENML (the HTML-based markup language) or use Markdown syntax with it translating between ENML and Markdown. This is partly because I think that there is a different market from the normal Evernote client apps and the markup-editing class of users are never going to be addressed by an official Evernote client (unless this got acquired and became a second blessed client).

So, my editor will be accompanied by a preview in a web control but almost certainly not WYSIWIG editing.

It may also be attractive to people who do not want to edit raw markup text but want a better range of formatting cleanup controls, so maybe I should expose the format cleanup directly on the preview pane as well.

This discussion makes me wonder what levels of format simplification may be needed and if the UI should offer a choice between things possibly not mutually exclusive e.g.:

• strip all style formatting but leave tables structurally intact
  
• unify styles to same font
  
• collapse paragraphs and other divs into simple paragraphs (technically, the same as pure plain text in a text editor)
  
• collapse tables where possible, thinking of the use of tables as a web page formatting gimmick, with non-tabular data
  

[ericoahu 3]

Shift-Command-F

It's an option under the Format menu.

I found this post searching for the solution and in the process of asking about it again noticed that a recent update added the features.

[Paid Member 1]

I need to just clear formatting on the selection but not the entire note.. 

[JKG 1]

Semi-crappy (best I can find) workaround for not having a "clear formatting" button:

Ctrl+Shft+V to "Paste text from clipboard as unformatted text." instead of the standard paste, Ctrl+V

This option is also in the Edit pull-down menu as "Paste as Text"

 

To revise an entire existing note, select all (Ctrl+A), copy (Ctrl+C), paste (Ctrl+Shft+V)

Or select portions manually then copy/paste.

Ctrl + V   Paste text from clipboard with the original formatting Ctrl + Shft + V   Paste text from clipboard as unformatted text

http://evernote.com/contact/support/kb/#!/article/23168552

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

Semi-crappy (best I can find) workaround for not having a "clear formatting" button:

Ctrl+Shft+V to "Paste text from clipboard as unformatted text." instead of the standard paste, Ctrl+V

This option is also in the Edit pull-down menu as "Paste as Text"

 

To revise an entire existing note, select all (Ctrl+A), copy (Ctrl+C), paste (Ctrl+Shft+V)

Or select portions manually then copy/paste.

Ctrl + V   Paste text from clipboard with the original formatting Ctrl + Shft + V   Paste text from clipboard as unformatted text

http://evernote.com/contact/support/kb/#!/article/23168552

Doesn't cmd-shift-f work for your needs? Select whatever text you want, cmd-shift-f and POOF the formatting is gone. 

[JKG 1]

Thanks, but didn't work on a Windows machine (tried Ctrl+Shft+V). Is that a MacOS command? Didn't see the command in the Evernote shortcut list.

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

try selecting some formatted text and pressing ctrl-alt-f on a windows machine.  (NOTE: This has NOTHING to do with pasting. You select existing text, THEN use the key combination)

[AndyDent 97]

Look on the Format menu - Remove Formatting is down the bottom and the Windows key is Ctrl-Shift-Space

[AndyDent 97]

I don't know if Scott is using a beta which has changed things. The current Windows desktop version I have is the release version 4.6.7.8409 and the Simplify Formatting and Remove Formatting behaviour has been the same for a long time.

 

It applies to the whole note regardless of selection.

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

1) You are right, it is applied to the entire body of the note. My mistake! 

 

2) The current release of Evernote for Windows is v5.x so you appear to be one major release behind! 

 

3) THANKS for clarifying the windows hotkey. 

[JKG 1]

Look on the Format menu - Remove Formatting is down the bottom and the Windows key is Ctrl-Shift-Space

That works, thanks!

[falk 3]

From the web app I was able to do it this way on a Mac:

 

Open a terminal window. Give the command "cat > /dev/null" so the window will ignore all input

Cut the entire note with ^X

Paste the note into the terminal window -- this throws away the formatting.

Copy the note from the terminal window.

Paste it back into the web app.

 

To say this solution sucks would be an understatement, but I tried everything else I could think of.

 

Evernote: please add a "clear formatting" option that WORKS to the web app and to the Android app.

[AndyDent 97]

I do something similar to falk but using BBEdit rather than the Terminal window.

 

I don't advise people pasting things into Terminal windows in case they forget the cat > /dev/null step..

 

Any programmer editor will take the plain text off the clipboard.

 

The reason these approaches work is that it puts a cleaned version back on the clipboard.

 

The clipboard contains multiple representations. (Evernote puts about 20 on there, as I pointed out in January.)

 

When you paste into a programming editor, you just get the plain text representation.

 

if you then select all and copy back from the editor, the only thing that goes into the clipboard is a plain text version. Even if that plain text is identical to what was already in the clipboard, it wipes out all the formatted representations.

 

Pasting into Evernote will then convert that plain text into a minimal formatted version using the settings in your desktop app for default text.

[BobG 0]

I use Plain Text, a free app from the App Store (donations to the developer invited) to clear all formatting, leaving me with text in the font and font size I want. It works quickly and well. I use it almost daily. 

 

[falk 3]

Yeah, I should probably have just said "paste into any utility that doesn't do formatting" rather than being so verbose about it. Thanks, AndyDent.

[falk 3]

Here are two features that Evernote needs:

 

1. "Clear formatting" option.
2. "Show what the current settings are for a piece of selected text.

 

Hell, even this forum comment editor I'm writing in right now has those features.

[johnjohn38 0]

Is there a way to clear the formatting without Evernote inserting spaces between every line.

[Atlas 0]

One way I have found is to open Evernote Web, paste in your content then (on the far right end of the formatting toolbar above the note - a weird-looking icon) select 'Remove formatting'. As long as your web account syncs with your Mac app, you should see all the formatting removed. Again, this is a REALLY long, cumbersome work-around but it might help as a temp solution for now.

[alevee-tb 0]

on mac, when formatted text is highlighted: Format > Style > Clear

[FenterMom 0]

On 5/16/2014 at 10:03 AM, JKG said:

Semi-crappy (best I can find) workaround for not having a "clear formatting" button:

Ctrl+Shft+V to "Paste text from clipboard as unformatted text." instead of the standard paste, Ctrl+V

This option is also in the Edit pull-down menu as "Paste as Text"

 

To revise an entire existing note, select all (Ctrl+A), copy (Ctrl+C), paste (Ctrl+Shft+V)

Or select portions manually then copy/paste.

Ctrl + V   Paste text from clipboard with the original formatting Ctrl + Shft + V   Paste text from clipboard as unformatted text

http://evernote.com/contact/support/kb/#!/article/23168552

This worked really well for me!  Thank you so much.  I just learned the Ctrl+A- added tip bonus!  

[kunalbansaliiit 0]

use flycut app for the mac.

Before using the flycut I used to copy the text on the sublime and then from there to the Evernote. It was very frustrating, but my love for Evernote let me do it again and again.

With the flycut app now you can spend less time in clearing formatting

https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/42134/flycut

[DrSnap 2]

BUMP on this topic!

How hard would it be to add a "Remove formatting" button similar to what we know from -for example- Gmail?

And while you're at it. Make it so that Hyperlinks are not removed in the process! That would really be great!

[Tartempion 1]

clear formatting never worked fine. I did not use evernote for long time. i updated yesterday and now clear formatting doesn't work at all. I'm searching solution in forum and i found a suitable solution.

ctrl+C : copy selection on webpage

ctrl+V : paste in new note in evernote

ctrl+A : select all text in note

ctrl+maj+L : apply bloc code style to entire note

ctrl+maj+space : remove formatting (that doesn't work entirely)

ctrl+space: simplify formatting (that remove last formatting)

Can work with selection text.

more simply

ctrl+shift L after space, then ctrl+space.

 

[Hari Thapliyal 3]

select the text and press ctrl+space

[Juliehmb 0]

That last solution (ctrl+space) does not work. It's 2020 and this feature still doesn't exist. How is this real life? Please please please provide a "clear formatting" option. This make it so difficult to do my job.

[duffx 0]

Coming here from a google search.

Is this really still not possible?

Why does Evernote allow you to copy formatting that then cannot be edited in any way?

For example, I'm pasting some old notes from Google Docs, and the line height on bullet lists is totally different from standard. I see no option in Evernote (Mac) to change line height, nor do I see an option to reset all formatting to standard.

Pasting as plain text doesn't do what I want, because then it replaces bullet lists with text asterisks, and I have to manually recreate the bullet lists. I simply want to paste text with bullet lists, without copying a ton of formatting options that then cannot be changed in Evernote (like line height).

[Mata Hari 15]

Edit-- Paste and Match Style
This removes all formatting for me

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