Patent ID: 7743317

Claim:
A method for pasting spreadsheet elements, the method comprising: determining a selection of a spreadsheet element having a first set of formatting properties in a source document; determining a paste point in a target document; comparing the first set of formatting properties associated with the spreadsheet element to a second set of formatting properties associated with the target document in order to determine an intended set of formatting properties for the spreadsheet element when included in the target document, wherein comparing the first set of formatting properties associated with the spreadsheet element to the second set of formatting properties associated with the target document comprises: determining whether source style properties of the source document have been at least one of: used and modified in the target document, in response to a determination that the source style properties have been at least one of: used and modified in the target document, setting target style properties as intended style properties associated with the intended formatting properties, and in response to a determination that the source style properties have not been at least one of: used and modified in the target document, setting the source style properties as the intended style properties associated with the intended formatting properties; determining if the selected spreadsheet element is a single cell; and if the selected spreadsheet element is not a single cell, pasting the spreadsheet element as a table at the paste point in the target document with the intended set of formatting properties applied thereto.