Strip newlines from copy/pasted posts?

  • This is not so much a problem for me as with others I’m training to use WordPress.

    A lot of posts are copied and pasted from an email. So we wind up with extraneous newlines and sloppy formatting, with some lines chopped too short. Non-technical users have a terrible time with this.

    What’s the best way to deal with this, using easy Windows software? Is there a simple Windows text editor that will strip newlines from paragraphs so they reflow neatly in the WordPress editor? I need a simple routine to give to people, such as:

    1. Copy the text from your email or whatever
    2. Paste the text into Editor X
    3. Do this…
    4. Copy the text from Editor X
    5. Paste the text into your WordPress editor

    Unless of course there’s an easier way that I’m missing!

    I do it with vi but that’s out of the question for my users. Sorry I’m not familiar with what’s available for Windows these days, so any help is appreciated!

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

  • have you tried the Paste from Text feature on the second line on the Visual Editor? Not certain it will work but it does clean up a lot.

    It’s the “T” button. If it works you train them to paste into that window that instead of directly into the post.

    Thread Starter mattotoole

    (@mattotoole)

    I just used the paste-from-Word button and it worked like a charm! Thanks! I’ll try the paste-from-text button next, but I imagine it works the same.

    Thread Starter mattotoole

    (@mattotoole)

    OK, I’ve been using this feature for awhile and it works.

    But…

    It’s still a pain. You have to decide whether it’s easier to get rid of all the line breaks then put the paragraph breaks back, or just go through and repair all the line breaks, which is more work but easier.

    This is a common problem with a lot of software. I’m really surprised it hasn’t been fixed, but I don’t know the best way to approach it either.

    Again, if there were some Windows text editor that would re-flow paragraphs while keeping paragraph breaks, it would make things easier for a lot of people.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
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