---
title: "PowerPaste plugin"
description: ""
canonical_url: "https://www.tiny.cloud/docs/tinymce/latest/introduction-to-powerpaste/"
md_url: "https://www.tiny.cloud/docs/tinymce/5/introduction-to-powerpaste/index.md"
version: "5"
last_updated: "2024-04-16T01:50:26Z"
tokens: 3041
---
Important This page documents TinyMCE 5. For new projects, Tiny recommends using the latest, most up-to-date version. [See TinyMCE 8 documentation](../../latest/introduction-to-powerpaste/).
# PowerPaste plugin
> **Note:** This plugin is only available for [paid TinyMCE subscriptions](/pricing).
The TinyMCE **PowerPaste** plugin automatically cleans up content from Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and HTML sources to ensure clean, compliant content that matches the look and feel of the site.
> **Note:** Due to limitations in Microsoft Excel online (part of Office Live) PowerPaste does not support pasting from Microsoft Excel online. If you paste content using Microsoft Excel in Office Live you will get a plain text representation of the content.
## Usage
The **PowerPaste** plugin activates automatically when users paste content into the editor. For basic usage, users are not required to take any action. Simply copy and paste content normally using keyboard shortcuts, the browser’s "Paste" menu item (including from the context menu), or the TinyMCE "Paste" toolbar button.
To paste clipboard content as plain text, users can click the "Paste As Text" toolbar button or menu item, then paste the content normally. The TinyMCE **PowerPaste** plugin will convert the HTML on the clipboard into plain text.
If you configure **PowerPaste** to allow local images (see the [`powerpaste_allow_local_images`](#powerpaste_allow_local_images) setting below), then images copied from Microsoft Word and other sources will appear in TinyMCE as Base64 encoded images. You can have TinyMCE automatically upload Base64 encoded images for reverting back to a standard image as described in the [image upload documentation](../upload-images/).
> **Note:** PowerPaste (when configured to allow local images) will import images from pasted Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel content. When doing this, **PowerPaste** extracts Base64 encoded images from the clipboard. Images larger than approximately 8.5MB may fail to import based on technical limitations of web browsers.
## Cloud Installation
To enable the TinyMCE **PowerPaste** plugin with [Tiny Cloud](../editor-and-features/):
1. If you are currently using the `paste` plugin provided with TinyMCE, disable it by removing it from the `plugins` list.
2. Add `powerpaste` to the `plugins` list.
Example TinyMCE configuration:
```js
tinymce.init({
selector: 'textarea', // change this value according to your HTML
plugins: 'powerpaste'
});
```
## Self-hosted Installation
To enable the TinyMCE **PowerPaste** plugin:
1. If you are currently using the `paste` plugin provided with TinyMCE, disable it by removing it from the `plugins` list.
2. Add `powerpaste` to the `plugins` list in your TinyMCE configuration.
See the example TinyMCE configuration above.
## Configuration Options
### paste_as_text
This option controls the default state of the **Paste as text** menu item, which is added by the `powerpaste` plugin under the `Edit` menu drop-down.
The supported values are `true` and `false`. The default is `false`.
#### Example: paste_as_text
```js
tinymce.init({
selector: 'textarea', // change this value according to your HTML
plugins: 'powerpaste',
menubar: 'edit',
toolbar: 'pastetext',
paste_as_text: true
});
```
### `paste_merge_formats`
This option enables the merge format feature of the PowerPaste plugin. This merges identical text format elements to reduce the number of HTML elements produced. For example: `abc bold 123` becomes `abc bold 123` since the inner format is redundant. This option is enabled by default but can be disabled if retaining nested or identical format elements is important.
**Type:** `Boolean`
**Default Value:** `true`
**Possible Values:** `true`, `false`
#### Example: Using `paste_merge_formats`
```js
tinymce.init({
selector: 'textarea', // change this value according to your HTML
plugins: 'powerpaste',
paste_merge_formats: false
});
```
### `paste_tab_spaces`
> **Note:** This feature is only available for TinyMCE 5.4 and later.
This option controls how many spaces are used to represent a tab character in HTML when pasting plain text content. By default, the Paste plugin will convert each tab character into 4 sequential space characters.
**Type:** `Number`
**Default Value:** `4`
#### Example: Using `paste_tab_spaces`
```js
tinymce.init({
selector: 'textarea', // change this value according to your HTML
plugins: 'paste',
paste_tab_spaces: 2
});
```
### `powerpaste_word_import`
This option controls how content pasted from Microsoft Word is filtered.
**Type:** `String` or `Function`
**Default Value:** `prompt`
The supported string-based values are:
- `clean` - Preserve the structure of the content such as headings, tables, and lists but remove inline styles and classes. This results in simple content that uses the site’s CSS stylesheet while retaining the semantic structure from the original document.
- `merge` - Preserve the inline formatting and structure of the original document. Invalid and proprietary styles, tags and attributes are still removed ensuring that the HTML is valid while more closely matching the original document formatting.
- `prompt` - Prompt the user to choose between the clean and merge options after attempting to paste HTML content.
Alternatively, this option can take an asynchronous function that returns a [Promise](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Promise) which will resolve with the string `clean` or `merge`. This allows the paste mode to be dynamically set each time a user pastes relevant content. It can be used, for example, to replicate the `prompt` dialog with a custom dialog.
> **Note:** When using the Windows operating system, copying and pasting content from Microsoft Word 2013 (or later) in "Protected View" will result in plain, unformatted text. This is due to how Protected View interacts with the clipboard.
#### Example: `powerpaste_word_import` using an asynchronous function
```js
tinymce.init({
selector: 'textarea', // change this value according to your HTML
plugins: 'powerpaste',
powerpaste_word_import: function() {
// use a native confirm dialog to prompt the user to choose between clean and merge
return new Promise(function (resolve) {
if (confirm('Would you like to keep formatting?')) {
resolve('merge');
} else {
resolve('clean');
}
});
}
});
```
### `powerpaste_googledocs_import`
> **Note:** This feature is only available for TinyMCE 5.8 and later.
This option controls how content pasted from Google Docs is filtered.
**Type:** `String` or `Function`
**Default Value:** `prompt`
The supported string-based values are:
- `clean` - Preserve the structure of the content such as headings, tables, and lists but remove inline styles and classes. This results in simple content that uses the site’s CSS stylesheet while retaining the semantic structure from the original document.
- `merge` - Preserve the inline formatting and structure of the original document. Invalid and proprietary styles, tags and attributes are still removed ensuring that the HTML is valid while more closely matching the original document formatting.
- `prompt` - Prompt the user to choose between the clean and merge options after attempting to paste HTML content.
Alternatively, this option can take an asynchronous function that returns a [Promise](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Promise) which will resolve with the string `clean` or `merge`. This allows the paste mode to be dynamically set each time a user pastes relevant content. It can be used, for example, to replicate the `prompt` dialog with a custom dialog.
#### Example: `powerpaste_googledocs_import` using an asynchronous function
```js
tinymce.init({
selector: 'textarea', // change this value according to your HTML
plugins: 'powerpaste',
powerpaste_googledocs_imports: function() {
// use a native confirm dialog to prompt the user to choose between clean and merge
return new Promise(function (resolve) {
if (confirm('Would you like to keep formatting?')) {
resolve('merge');
} else {
resolve('clean');
}
});
}
});
```
### `powerpaste_html_import`
This option controls how content pasted from sources other than Microsoft Word and Google Docs are filtered. Note that this includes content copied from TinyMCE itself.
**Type:** `String`
**Default Value:** `clean`
The supported values are:
- `clean` - Preserve the structure of the content such as headings, tables, and lists but remove inline styles and classes. This results in simple content that uses the site’s CSS stylesheet while retaining the semantic structure from the original document.
- `merge` - Preserve the inline formatting and structure of the original document. Invalid and proprietary styles, tags and attributes are still removed ensuring that the HTML is valid while more closely matching the original document formatting.
- `prompt` - Prompt the user to choose between the clean and merge options after attempting to paste HTML content.
### `powerpaste_allow_local_images`
When set to `true`, Base64 encoded images using a data URI in the copied content will not be removed after pasting.
**Default value:** `true`
**Possible values:** `true`, `false`
> **Note:** If you configure ***PowerPaste*** to allow local images, you can have TinyMCE automatically upload Base64 encoded images for conversion back to a standard image as described on the [image upload documentation](../upload-images/).
### powerpaste_block_drop
Due to browser limitations, it is not possible to filter content that is dragged and dropped into the editor. When `powerpaste_block_drop` is set to true the plugin will disable drag and dropping content into the editor. This prevents the unfiltered content from being introduced. Copy and paste is still enabled.
**Default value:** `false`
**Possible values:** `true`, `false`
#### Example: Using `powerpaste_block_drop`
```js
tinymce.init({
selector: 'textarea', // change this value according to your HTML
plugins: 'powerpaste',
powerpaste_block_drop: false
});
```
### `powerpaste_clean_filtered_inline_elements`
This option allows for configuration of PowerPaste’s **"clean"** paste filters for inline elements. These filters are run when `powerpaste_word_import` or `powerpaste_html_import` are set to `"clean"`; or when a user clicks the **"Remove formatting"** button on the paste prompt dialog.
The list of inline elements that should be removed on paste can be specified by setting `powerpaste_clean_filtered_inline_elements` to a comma-separated string of inline element tag names.
**Possible Values:** A comma-separated string.
#### Example: `powerpaste_clean_filtered_inline_elements`
```js
tinymce.init({
selector: 'textarea', // change this value according to your HTML
plugins: 'powerpaste',
powerpaste_word_import: 'clean', // optional
powerpaste_html_import: 'clean', // optional
powerpaste_clean_filtered_inline_elements: 'strong, em, b, i, u, strike, sup, sub, font'
});
```
### `powerpaste_keep_unsupported_src`
Due to browser limitations, PowerPaste is not able to support all image types supported by Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. When `powerpaste_keep_unsupported_src` is set to `true`, PowerPaste will store the original `src` of unsupported images in a `data-image-src` attribute on the pasted image element. This enables developers to add further image support via post-processing.
For example, browsers do not allow PowerPaste to access the file system. If your application has access to the file system, setting `powerpaste_keep_unsupported_src` to `true` may allow you to replace unsupported images during post-processing using the original file paths.
**Default Value:** `false`
**Possible Values:** `true`, `false`
#### Example: powerpaste_keep_unsupported_src
```js
tinymce.init({
selector: 'textarea', // change this value according to your HTML
plugins: 'powerpaste',
powerpaste_keep_unsupported_src: true
});
```
### `smart_paste`
The `smart_paste` function will:
- Detect text that resembles a URL and change the text to a hyperlink.
- Detect text that resembles the URL for an image and will try to replace the text with the image.
To disable the `smart_paste` functionality, set `smart_paste` to `false`. To configure which image file types are recognised, see [Image & file options - images_file_types](../file-image-upload/#images_file_types).
**Type:** `Boolean`
**Default Value:** `true`
**Possible Values:** `true`, `false`
#### Example: Using `smart_paste`
```js
tinymce.init({
selector: 'textarea', // change this value according to your HTML
plugins: 'powerpaste',
menubar: 'edit',
toolbar: 'paste',
smart_paste: false
});
```
### `image_file_types`
This option configures which image file formats will be recognized and placed in an `img` element by the [`smart_paste`](#smart_paste) functionality when content is pasted into the editor.
**Type:** `String`
**Default Value:** `'jpeg,jpg,jpe,jfi,jfif,png,gif,bmp,webp'`
**Possible Values:** A list of valid web image file extensions. For a list of possible values see: [MDN Web Docs - Image file type and format guide](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Media/Formats/Image_types).
#### Example: Using `image_file_types`
```js
tinymce.init({
selector: 'textarea', // change this value according to your HTML
plugins: 'powerpaste',
smart_paste: true, // note: default value for smart_paste is true
image_file_types: 'jpg,svg,webp'
});
```