Clear formatting keyboard shortcut in 4 apps
Clear formatting has a documented keyboard shortcut in 4 apps here, among them Gmail, Google Docs, Google Docs, Google Sheets. The most common keys are Ctrl + \ on Windows and Cmd + \ on a Mac.
Keys on this page were last checked against their sources on September 11, 2026.
| App | Windows | Mac | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gmail | Windows Ctrl + \ | Mac Not documented | Clear formatting |
| Google Docs | Windows Ctrl + \ | Mac Cmd + \ | Remove direct text styling |
| Google Docs | Windows Ctrl + \ | Mac Not documented | Clear formatting |
| Google Sheets | Windows Ctrl + \ | Mac Not documented | Clear formatting |
What most apps settled on for Clear formatting
On Windows, Ctrl + \ is the combination in 3 of the 3 apps here that document one. All 3 apps here that document a Windows key use Ctrl + \, which makes this one of the safer habits to carry between apps.
Where the table is deliberately empty
3 apps here publish no Mac key for Clear formatting, so those cells are left blank. A blank there is a gap in that maker documentation for Clear formatting, not an oversight here, and it is never filled by converting the other system.
If the keys for Clear formatting do nothing
The 4 apps listed here each decide this for themselves, so the first thing to check is that you are reading the row for the app you are actually in, and the column for your system. After that, check the app version, since clear formatting is the kind of command makers move between releases. Report a correction
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