Email Editor: Copy and Paste Guidelines – Toku

Applies to: Agent portal email composer (Omnichannel) Audience: Agents composing and replying to emails Version: 1.0 (template, adapt as needed)

Current state of the editor

The formatting toolbar is scheduled for release at the end of Q2 2026. Until then, the editor is text-first, with limited controls for styling text once it is in the message. For now, the best results come from keeping emails simple and managing formatting at the moment you paste, rather than fixing it afterwards.

Why these matters

When you copy content from another system (a CRM such as Zendesk, Outlook, Word, Excel, or a plain text note) into the email editor, some formatting may change as it is pasted. This is expected: the editor keeps the formatting it supports and adjusts or removes the rest. This guide lists the common things to watch for, and the approaches that work best while the toolbar is not yet available.

The default approach: paste as plain text

While formatting controls are limited, your most reliable option is to paste without the source styling and keep the message clean:

Windows: Ctrl + Shift + V
Mac: Cmd + Shift + V

This removes colours, fonts, and most styling from the source, giving you a clean, predictable starting point. Please note one limitation: it does not always stop the editor from turning typed numbers into automatic lists (see the first row of the table below). Always read the message back before sending.

Common things you may see

What you may see	Why it happens	What to do for now
A numbered list restarts at 1 (for example, your "4." and "5." show as "1."), or the numbers you typed change	The editor converts typed numbers into automatic lists. A blank line ends a list, so the next number starts again at 1.	Keep numbered points together with no blank lines between them, so they stay as one continuous list. If exact numbering is essential, avoid leaving blank lines between items. (This is being addressed in a future update.)
Bullet markers look different (for example, a dash becomes a dot)	The editor applies its own bullet style to lists.	This is a visual style only; the content is unaffected. No action is needed.
Colours, fonts, or font sizes disappear	The editor keeps only basic structure and removes custom colours, fonts, and sizes from the source.	Keep replies in the standard style for now. Richer formatting controls will arrive with the toolbar at the end of Q2 2026.
Dashes, quotes, or symbols look wrong, especially from Word or Outlook	Word and Outlook use special characters (long dashes, curly quotes) that do not always carry across cleanly.	Check these characters after pasting and retype any that look wrong or paste as plain text to avoid them.
Tables or images do not paste neatly	Complex layouts, table styling, and inline images are not supported in the editor at this stage.	Avoid pasting tables and images into the body. Describe the content in text or add files as attachments instead.
Extra blank lines or odd spacing appear	Hidden formatting from the source (often Word or Outlook) brings spacing with it.	Delete the extra blank lines by hand or paste as plain text and tidy up.

General tips while the toolbar is not yet available

Make pasting as plain text your default when the source formatting does not matter; it gives the cleanest, most predictable result.
Compose simple, lightly formatted emails for now. Rich formatting is limited until the toolbar is released.
Keep numbered points without blank lines between them if you want them to stay in one sequence.
Expect more clean-up when copying from Word, Outlook, or Excel than from a web page.
Manual editing (deleting unwanted lines, retyping characters that look wrong) is your main tool until the toolbar arrives.

Before you send: quick checklist

Numbered and bulleted lists are in the correct order and not restarting unexpectedly.
Special characters (dashes, quotes, symbols) look right.
No unexpected blank lines or spacing.
Links open the correct page.
The message reads cleanly from top to bottom.

Notes for administrators: some of these behaviours (for example the automatic conversion of pasted numbers into lists) can be reduced through editor configuration ahead of the toolbar release. If a formatting problem keeps happening and the steps above do not help, please report it to [portal administrator / IT contact] with a short description and, where possible, a screenshot.