Text in RichTextArea when copying and pasting from Word

Vaadin 6 / 7 / 8
1

Well, I know, rich text editors get garbage when the users copy and paste from Word; still, I found something unexpected, which lets me think there is some space for improvement in this component.

The scenario I was dealing with, which I found while investigating a bug in my application, simply consists in a user copying and pasting a single line of text from Word to RichTextArea. The line is formatted as both bold and italic, and with google chrome the text I get from the component is nice and simple
:

<b><i><span style=\"font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\">I principi che regolano il concorso finanziario delle Regioni al patto\ndi stabilit..</span></i></b>

Unfortunately we don’t install Chrome on users’ PCs, so we have to stick with Firefox, which sends
a little
 more garbage:

<!--[if gte mso 9]
><xml>\n <w:WordDocument>\n <w:View>Normal</w:View>\n <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>\n <w:TrackMoves/>\n <w:TrackFormatting/>\n <w:HyphenationZone>14</w:HyphenationZone>\n <w:PunctuationKerning/>\n <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>\n <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>\n <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>\n <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>\n <w:DoNotPromoteQF/>\n <w:LidThemeOther>IT</w:LidThemeOther>\n <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>\n <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>\n <w:Compatibility>\n <w:BreakWrappedTables/>\n <w:SnapToGridInCell/>\n <w:WrapTextWithPunct/>\n <w:UseAsianBreakRules/>\n <w:DontGrowAutofit/>\n <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>\n <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/>\n <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/>\n <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>\n <w:Word11KerningPairs/>\n <w:CachedColBalance/>\n <w:UseFELayout/>\n </w:Compatibility>\n <w:DoNotOptimizeForBrowser/>\n <m:mathPr>\n <m:mathFont m:val=\"Cambria Math\"/>\n <m:brkBin m:val=\"before\"/>\n <m:brkBinSub m:val=\"--\"/>\n <m:smallFrac m:val=\"off\"/>\n <m:dispDef/>\n <m:lMargin m:val=\"0\"/>\n <m:rMargin m:val=\"0\"/>\n <m:defJc m:val=\"centerGroup\"/>\n <m:wrapIndent m:val=\"1440\"/>\n <m:intLim m:val=\"subSup\"/>\n <m:naryLim m:val=\"undOvr\"/>\n </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>\n</xml><![endif]
--><b style=\"mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\"><i style=\"mso-bidi-font-style:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:11.5pt;mso-bidi-font-size:\n11.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";\ncolor:black;mso-ansi-language:IT;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:\nAR-SA\">I principi che regolano il concorso finanziario delle Regioni al patto\ndi stabilit..</span></i></b><!--[if gte mso 9]
><xml>\n <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState=\"false\" DefUnhideWhenUsed=\"true\"\n DefSemiHidden=\"true\" DefQFormat=\"false\" DefPriority=\"99\"\n LatentStyleCount=\"267\">\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"0\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" QFormat=\"true\" Name=\"Normal\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"9\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" QFormat=\"true\" Name=\"heading 1\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"9\" QFormat=\"true\" Name=\"heading 2\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"9\" QFormat=\"true\" Name=\"heading 3\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"9\" QFormat=\"true\" Name=\"heading 4\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"9\" QFormat=\"true\" Name=\"heading 5\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"9\" QFormat=\"true\" Name=\"heading 6\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"9\" QFormat=\"true\" Name=\"heading 7\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"9\" QFormat=\"true\" Name=\"heading 8\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"9\" QFormat=\"true\" Name=\"heading 9\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"39\" Name=\"toc 1\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"39\" Name=\"toc 2\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"39\" Name=\"toc 3\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"39\" Name=\"toc 4\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"39\" Name=\"toc 5\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"39\" Name=\"toc 6\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"39\" Name=\"toc 7\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"39\" Name=\"toc 8\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"39\" Name=\"toc 9\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"35\" QFormat=\"true\" Name=\"caption\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"10\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" QFormat=\"true\" Name=\"Title\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"1\" Name=\"Default Paragraph Font\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"11\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" QFormat=\"true\" Name=\"Subtitle\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"22\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" QFormat=\"true\" Name=\"Strong\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"20\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" QFormat=\"true\" Name=\"Emphasis\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"59\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Table Grid\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Placeholder Text\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"1\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" QFormat=\"true\" Name=\"No Spacing\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"60\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Light Shading\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"61\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Light List\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"62\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Light Grid\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"63\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Shading 1\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"64\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Shading 2\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"65\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium List 1\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"66\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium List 2\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"67\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Grid 1\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"68\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Grid 2\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"69\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Grid 3\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"70\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Dark List\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"71\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Colorful Shading\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"72\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Colorful List\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"73\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Colorful Grid\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"60\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Light Shading Accent 1\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"61\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Light List Accent 1\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"62\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Light Grid Accent 1\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"63\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Shading 1 Accent 1\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"64\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Shading 2 Accent 1\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"65\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium List 1 Accent 1\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Revision\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"34\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" QFormat=\"true\" Name=\"List Paragraph\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"29\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" QFormat=\"true\" Name=\"Quote\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"30\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" QFormat=\"true\" Name=\"Intense Quote\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"66\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium List 2 Accent 1\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"67\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Grid 1 Accent 1\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"68\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Grid 2 Accent 1\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"69\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Grid 3 Accent 1\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"70\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Dark List Accent 1\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"71\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Colorful Shading Accent 1\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"72\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Colorful List Accent 1\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"73\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Colorful Grid Accent 1\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"60\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Light Shading Accent 2\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"61\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Light List Accent 2\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"62\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Light Grid Accent 2\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"63\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Shading 1 Accent 2\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"64\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Shading 2 Accent 2\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"65\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium List 1 Accent 2\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"66\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium List 2 Accent 2\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"67\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Grid 1 Accent 2\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"68\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Grid 2 Accent 2\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"69\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Grid 3 Accent 2\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"70\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Dark List Accent 2\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"71\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Colorful Shading Accent 2\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"72\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Colorful List Accent 2\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"73\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Colorful Grid Accent 2\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"60\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Light Shading Accent 3\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"61\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Light List Accent 3\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"62\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Light Grid Accent 3\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"63\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Shading 1 Accent 3\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"64\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Shading 2 Accent 3\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"65\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium List 1 Accent 3\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"66\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium List 2 Accent 3\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"67\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Grid 1 Accent 3\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"68\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Grid 2 Accent 3\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"69\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Grid 3 Accent 3\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"70\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Dark List Accent 3\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"71\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Colorful Shading Accent 3\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"72\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Colorful List Accent 3\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"73\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Colorful Grid Accent 3\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"60\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Light Shading Accent 4\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"61\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Light List Accent 4\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"62\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Light Grid Accent 4\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"63\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Shading 1 Accent 4\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"64\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Shading 2 Accent 4\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"65\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium List 1 Accent 4\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"66\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium List 2 Accent 4\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"67\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Grid 1 Accent 4\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"68\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Grid 2 Accent 4\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"69\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Grid 3 Accent 4\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"70\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Dark List Accent 4\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"71\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Colorful Shading Accent 4\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"72\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Colorful List Accent 4\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"73\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Colorful Grid Accent 4\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"60\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Light Shading Accent 5\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"61\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Light List Accent 5\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"62\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Light Grid Accent 5\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"63\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Shading 1 Accent 5\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"64\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Shading 2 Accent 5\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"65\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium List 1 Accent 5\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"66\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium List 2 Accent 5\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"67\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Grid 1 Accent 5\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"68\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Grid 2 Accent 5\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"69\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Grid 3 Accent 5\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"70\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Dark List Accent 5\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"71\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Colorful Shading Accent 5\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"72\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Colorful List Accent 5\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"73\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Colorful Grid Accent 5\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"60\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Light Shading Accent 6\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"61\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Light List Accent 6\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"62\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Light Grid Accent 6\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"63\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Shading 1 Accent 6\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"64\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Shading 2 Accent 6\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"65\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium List 1 Accent 6\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"66\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium List 2 Accent 6\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"67\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Grid 1 Accent 6\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"68\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Grid 2 Accent 6\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"69\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Medium Grid 3 Accent 6\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"70\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Dark List Accent 6\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"71\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Colorful Shading Accent 6\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"72\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Colorful List Accent 6\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"73\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" Name=\"Colorful Grid Accent 6\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"19\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" QFormat=\"true\" Name=\"Subtle Emphasis\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"21\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" QFormat=\"true\" Name=\"Intense Emphasis\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"31\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" QFormat=\"true\" Name=\"Subtle Reference\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"32\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" QFormat=\"true\" Name=\"Intense Reference\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"33\" SemiHidden=\"false\"\n UnhideWhenUsed=\"false\" QFormat=\"true\" Name=\"Book Title\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"37\" Name=\"Bibliography\"/>\n <w:LsdException Locked=\"false\" Priority=\"39\" QFormat=\"true\" Name=\"TOC Heading\"/>\n </w:LatentStyles>\n</xml><![endif]
--><!--[if gte mso 10]
>\n<style>\n /* Style Definitions */\n table.MsoNormalTable\n\t{mso-style-name:\"Tabella normale\";\n\tmso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;\n\tmso-tstyle-colband-size:0;\n\tmso-style-noshow:yes;\n\tmso-style-priority:99;\n\tmso-style-qformat:yes;\n\tmso-style-parent:\"\";\n\tmso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;\n\tmso-para-margin:0cm;\n\tmso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;\n\tmso-pagination:widow-orphan;\n\tfont-size:11.0pt;\n\tfont-family:\"Calibri\",\"sans-serif\";\n\tmso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;\n\tmso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;\n\tmso-fareast-font-family:\"Times New Roman\";\n\tmso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;\n\tmso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;\n\tmso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;\n\tmso-bidi-font-family:\"Times New Roman\";\n\tmso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}\n</style>\n<![endif]
-->

That looks like a complete mess, but in fact there is just one comment before the relevant text and one after it, which are quite easy to remove with regular expressions, which leaves me with something much cleaner:

<b style=\"mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\"><i style=\"mso-bidi-font-style:normal\"> <span style=\"font-size:11.5pt;mso-bidi-font-size:\n11.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";\ncolor:black;mso-ansi-language:IT;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:\nAR-SA\"> I principi che regolano il concorso finanziario delle Regioni al patto\ndi stabilit..</span></i></b> I ended up also writing a small finite-state machine to clean up the styles and get something very close to what I would get from Chrome, but this is not very relevant. What is more interesting is that the latter code is also what I see from Firebug in the iframe created by the RichTextArea, so I would guess that the remaining garbage, which by volume is much more relevant, is added up to the text when it is sent to the server!

So, even if I solved my problem with a cleanup server-side, I thought I would post my comments as a possible idea for improvements: would it be possible to modify RichTextArea so that at least the initial and final xml is not included in the text?