Participant

Question

Pasting text into illustrator issue pastes as image, not text

Forum|Forum|7 months ago
August 12, 2025
2 replies
346 views

I've tried to google this problem but It seems some others are having a similar issue but there hasnt been a solution.

When pasting text from word (or anywhere) into illistrator it pastes as an image so I cant change the text size, colour ect ect.

A work around a found is to make a text box using T then pasting into that, this does paste the text as text however it removes all formatting (yes ive tired to change preferances but this doesnt help)

I have so much text to paste in and it has many Emojis within the text and many words are spiradicallty Bold, if i cant keep the format while pasting it is literally days of extra work.

Does anyone have any ideas?

This issue is also the same when copping text, it coppies as an image and the only way to paste it out is via word where you can select 'keep text only'.

J

Jeremy28121925wk2l

Participating Frequently

Illustrator has two types of text boxes: Point type and Area type. To convert back and forth, click on the cricle (or dot) on the short line that's connected to the text box. OR you can make this change from the Type menu (Convert to Area Type toggles back and forth to Convert to Point Type)

I think switching the text box to Area Type will give you exactly what your're looking for.

J

Jeremy28121925wk2l

Participating Frequently

I just did some more testing, and I think this will only solve half the problem. The problem of the tabs and special characters breaking the text into small blocks is more complicated. Sadly I have a Mac, so I'm not sure this will work for you. Try to find a rich text editor (I'm using TextEdit that is a standard Apple app. Copy from Word, Paste into the Rich Text Editor, Then select all, Copy from the Rich Text Editor and Paste into Illustrator.. Word seems to put things on the clipboard in a very PDF-like format with text broken up. Going through a rich text editor seems to bypass the issue... in Mac, using TextEdit. -_-

Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @wonderful_Cadence5584,

I just tested this on my end, and it seems to work fine for me, so I'd like to narrow down what might be different in your setup. Could you confirm the version of Illustrator you are using and the details of your operating system? Please try creating a brand-new Illustrator file and a new Word file, then place the text by going to File > Place and make sure the Show Import Options box is checked. In the import options, uncheck the Remove Text Formatting option and see if that helps preserve your formatting. If you can, it would also be helpful to share a short screen recording showing the issue in action, so I can share it with the team for further review.

Looking forward to hearing back from you.

Abhishek

W

wonderful_Cadence5584Author

Participant

Hi,

Version is Adobe Illistrator 2025 (most up to date)

Using Windows 11 Del G16

Example text: Top is pasting normally from word, is pasted as an image. Bottom is pasted in a text box where all formatting is removed.

Selecting file>place and selecting show import options doesnt seem to help as i can only paste pictures that way correct? Yes this option comes up if i try paste a file in but this defeats the point of qucikly being able to paste in text.

Im not sure how to send a video, ive recorded one however its too large to attach and it wont accept a Zip.

Thanks.

W

wonderful_Cadence5584Author

Participant

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si1VWh56ldY

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded