How can I redirect my <ctrl> +V key command to paste UNFORMATTED text
rather than formatted text?  I want it to work in any Windows
application.  I'm awre of the paste special command, but I need this
to work in Windows applications that don't have the paste special
command.  My OS is Windows ME and I use a regular QWERTY keyboard.

The easiest way to make sure that your text is unformatted is to
temporarily paste it into notepad, and then to copy it again and paste
it into the application you wish to have the data end up in.
Unfortunately, the method in which data is stored in the clipboard is
dependent on the application you copy from, so a utility is not
available. The reason why my workaround works is that when you paste
into notepad it automatically discards formatting information, and
then by copying from notepad again, you have the pure unformatted
text. Do not use wordpad though as this will carry the formatting over
to the final destination. If you're copying a couple words, and don't
feel the need (or want to waste the clicks to open up notepad, you can
just use [WINDOWS]-R to open up the "Run" dialogue box and do the
copy/paste trick in that little box (it will hold up to 260
characters). I've been doing this for ages to copy table data and
other formatted paragraph data on webpages for quotation and inclusion
in school reports adn the like. Hope this answers your question to
your satisfaction! If not, please clarify the question and I will be
more than happy to respond!

skermit-ga

Thank you!  I didn't know about Notepad stripping formatting.  That's
good to know.  However, I've downloaded PureText as per The Answerer
below.  Works like a charm.  :)  Many thanks to both of you!

There is also an application that does this for you, called PureText
by Steve Miller. It works with Windows ME, and is very simple to use.
It runs in the system tray (by the clock), and when you press a
defined hotkey, it clears the clipboard of formatting. Here's how it
works:

1) Run PureText, it appears in the tray
2) Copy your text
3) Press the defined hotkey, and the text becomes unformatted
4) Paste it into the application you want (CTRL+V)

You can get PureText here:
http://SteveMiller.net/PureText

It's freeware, 9kb, and no setup (just a zip file)

-theanswerer

Answerer--Thanks for suggesting PureText.  I tried it, and it's a nice
little program.  I've been looking for a solution to the Ctrl-V
problem for ages, and this looks like it.

you could record a short macro to do that, and apply it to whatever
key combination you want.