Remove Claude’s formatting from Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word preserves pasted HTML, so copying straight from Claude carries its class names — the ones containing “claude” — into a Word document. They are invisible while you read, but present in the source and readable by anyone who looks. Use Paste Special → Unformatted Text, or Ctrl+Alt+V and choose Unformatted.
Check yours first. Paste the text into the free checker and it lists every artifact with its exact position — no account, nothing uploaded, unlimited.
Check my text →What Microsoft Word keeps
- A normal paste into Word carries HTML through the clipboard, including class names, into the document XML.
- Word's AutoFormat also produces smart quotes and em dashes on its own, so those are weak evidence of anything here.
- A .docx is a zip of XML — anyone can unzip it and read what is inside.
The fastest fix
Use Paste Special → Unformatted Text, or Ctrl+Alt+V and choose Unformatted.
That handles the markup. It does not handle zero-width characters, non-breaking and exotic spaces, smart quotes or em dashes — those are text rather than formatting, so they survive the paste route above and every other one.
How to check it worked
Rename a copy of the .docx to .zip, open it, and read word/document.xml. That is the actual stored content — the editing view will not reveal it.
