Understanding Text Rendering and Pasting Options in the Email Editor

When creating content in Delivra’s drag-and-drop email editor, you can copy and paste text from various sources. However, not all formatting is preserved perfectly, and some pasted content may introduce unwanted styling or display issues. This article explains how to control what happens when you paste text into your emails.

Can I Paste Text Without Keeping the Original Formatting?

Yes! Delivra offers multiple paste options to help you either retain or strip formatting from your copied content:

• Inherit style at cursor
  Applies the template or cell’s styling to the pasted text while preserving basic structure such as links and line breaks.

• Retain source style
  Attempts to keep as much of the original formatting (fonts, sizes, styles) from the source as possible.

How to Use Paste Options

1. Copy your text from an external source (Word, Docs, website, etc.).

2. Open your email template or campaign and go to the Design step.

3. Click into a text block and locate the Paste icon in the toolbar.

4. Choose your desired paste option from the dropdown.

Browser & Shortcut Behaviors

Your browser and keyboard shortcuts can also affect how text is pasted:

Chrome & Edge:

• Right-click > Paste retains formatting

• Right-click > Paste as plain text removes formatting

Firefox:

• Right-click > Paste retains formatting

• "Paste as plain text" is not available

Keyboard Shortcuts:

• Windows:

  • Ctrl + V: Retains formatting

  • Ctrl + Shift + V: Removes formatting

• Mac:

  • Command + V: Retains formatting

  • Command + Shift + V: Removes formatting

Tip: You can also paste text into Notepad first to strip all formatting, then copy/paste into Delivra.

Administrator-Level Setting

From your user profile, you can enable a personal setting to strip all formatting when pasting. This setting overrides your default paste behavior but can be superseded if you choose a specific paste option in the editor.

What Formatting Gets Retained?

Depending on the source and paste method, Delivra will try to preserve:

• Text styling (bold, italic, underline)

• Font family and size

• Hyperlinks

• Line breaks

However, images will not be retained, and some formatting (especially from complex tools like Excel or Adobe PDFs) may not translate cleanly. In some cases, hidden formatting tags can cause design issues.

Known Limitations and Notes

• Notepad: Strips all formatting. Good for clean pasting.

• Excel: Formatting is lost; tables may carry over with extra styling that can disrupt layout.

• PDF (in browser): Formatting not retained. Open PDF in a native viewer to copy.

• Webmail or Email Content: Copying from a received email may introduce broken formatting. Paste into Notepad first.

• Firefox: Pasting from websites may strip font formatting entirely.

Troubleshooting Common Paste Issues

1. Extra space before or inside text blocks
Often caused by invisible formatting from source content.

Fix: Add a new text block and paste using plain text. Reapply formatting in Delivra.

2. Font changes in test emails
The font you assigned may not be supported by your recipient’s email client.

• Delivra offers universally supported font choices to maximize rendering consistency.

• Custom fonts may be saved in Brand Styles, but rendering is not guaranteed.

Note: We do not recommend hard-coding custom fonts in HTML, as unsupported fonts may leave your message unreadable.

Best Practices

• Use Inherit style at cursor for clean, consistent formatting.

• Limit use of formatting-heavy external sources like Word or Excel.

• Stick to standard web-safe fonts for best cross-client rendering.

• If pasting causes layout issues, switch to plain text and re-style within the editor.