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How can I transfer formatting and hyperlinks from Microsoft Word to an email in Gmail using Firefox?

  • 8 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 18 views
  • Last reply by nzanetti

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For the longest time, I have been making documents in Microsoft word that have hyperlinks, formatted text, ect. and then pasting them into Gmail messages. Previously, when I have used Firefox, all my formatting is maintained so that the content in the newly created Gmail message looks exactly like it does in the Microsoft Word document. I tried to do this today and when I paste from Microsoft Word to Gmail, plain text shows up.

I have tried switching between 'rich text' and 'plain text' on Gmail as well as toggling the 'remove formatting button.' I've also tried using safe mode and nothing changed.

I am able to paste the formatted content using Safari, but I have to make more adjustments afterwards to make it look the same. With Firefox I used to be able to paste it and it would look exactly as it did in Microsoft Word.
For the longest time, I have been making documents in Microsoft word that have hyperlinks, formatted text, ect. and then pasting them into Gmail messages. Previously, when I have used Firefox, all my formatting is maintained so that the content in the newly created Gmail message looks exactly like it does in the Microsoft Word document. I tried to do this today and when I paste from Microsoft Word to Gmail, plain text shows up. I have tried switching between 'rich text' and 'plain text' on Gmail as well as toggling the 'remove formatting button.' I've also tried using safe mode and nothing changed. I am able to paste the formatted content using Safari, but I have to make more adjustments afterwards to make it look the same. With Firefox I used to be able to paste it and it would look exactly as it did in Microsoft Word.

All Replies (8)

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Using Rich Text only for links (and a few other things) enter the e-mail or link or whatever. When you are done, press <Enter> at the end if the link. That should change the text to a link, Other links can be added to the same line at that point.

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Does Gmail look normal otherwise, it doesn't seem to have switched to another mode?

Does the problem affect editable areas on other sites? You can test by pasting into the lower part of this page, for example:

https://bug1164884.bmoattachments.org/attachment.cgi?id=8682283

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Gmail appears to be normal. The pasting works fine when I do it in Gmail in Safari, just not Firefox.

When I pasted the text into the lower part of that page, it came out with the same issue (none of the formatting transferred)

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Thank you for testing that. And if you copy from another page in Firefox that has links and formatting and paste either into that bug report page or into Gmail, does Firefox carry over the formatting? In other words, is the problem only with copying from Word and pasting into Firefox?

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I tried pasting from another web page with links into the test page, and the formatting was maintained. However, when I put the same text into a Gmail message, it pasted as plain text.

I tried toggling plain text on and then off on Gmail and when I pasted again, it maintained the formatting. However, when I tried this same trick taking the text in Microsoft Word and pasting it (toggling plain text on and off before) it pastes in as plain text no matter what I do.

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So an update on when this problem occurs:

-Happens in Gmail on multiple browsers (Safari, Firefox, Chrome) -Happens with all my Gmail accounts -Did NOT occur when my co-worker tried it on his computer and his Gmail address, pasting text from the same word document I was attempting to paste from -Happened even when I made a completely from scratch Word document -Still happened after I restored default settings on Firefox

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Hi nzanetti, is there any difference between Word on the two computers, for example version or patch level?

Is there any difference in security/privacy software that might affect the clipboard?

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Not that I'm aware of. However, I just restarted my computer again, and the problem appears to be solved. There must have been some glitch, cookie, or setting that was resolved with the restart.

Why this didn't work with the initial restart I have no idea, thank you for your help.