diff --git a/packages/app-desktop/gui/NoteEditor/utils/index.ts b/packages/app-desktop/gui/NoteEditor/utils/index.ts
index 3de653439b2..04070dfd875 100644
--- a/packages/app-desktop/gui/NoteEditor/utils/index.ts
+++ b/packages/app-desktop/gui/NoteEditor/utils/index.ts
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
 import { FormNote } from './types';
 
-import HtmlToMd from '@joplin/lib/HtmlToMd';
+import HtmlToMd, { ParseOptions } from '@joplin/lib/HtmlToMd';
 import Note from '@joplin/lib/models/Note';
 import { NoteEntity } from '@joplin/lib/services/database/types';
 const { MarkupToHtml } = require('@joplin/renderer');
 
-export async function htmlToMarkdown(markupLanguage: number, html: string, originalCss: string): Promise<string> {
+export async function htmlToMarkdown(markupLanguage: number, html: string, originalCss: string, parseOptions: ParseOptions = null): Promise<string> {
 	let newBody = '';
 
 	if (markupLanguage === MarkupToHtml.MARKUP_LANGUAGE_MARKDOWN) {
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ export async function htmlToMarkdown(markupLanguage: number, html: string, origi
 			preserveImageTagsWithSize: true,
 			preserveNestedTables: true,
 			preserveColorStyles: true,
+			...parseOptions,
 		});
 		newBody = await Note.replaceResourceExternalToInternalLinks(newBody, { useAbsolutePaths: true });
 	} else {
diff --git a/packages/app-desktop/gui/NoteEditor/utils/resourceHandling.ts b/packages/app-desktop/gui/NoteEditor/utils/resourceHandling.ts
index 8b2602af0e6..0e1528c9167 100644
--- a/packages/app-desktop/gui/NoteEditor/utils/resourceHandling.ts
+++ b/packages/app-desktop/gui/NoteEditor/utils/resourceHandling.ts
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ export async function processPastedHtml(html: string, htmlToMd: HtmlToMarkdownHa
 	// TinyMCE, but lost once the note is saved. So here we convert the HTML to Markdown then back
 	// to HTML to ensure that the content we paste will be handled correctly by the app.
 	if (htmlToMd && mdToHtml) {
-		const md = await htmlToMd(MarkupLanguage.Markdown, html, '');
+		const md = await htmlToMd(MarkupLanguage.Markdown, html, '', { preserveColorStyles: Setting.value('editor.pastePreserveColors') });
 		html = (await mdToHtml(MarkupLanguage.Markdown, md, markupRenderOptions({ bodyOnly: true }))).html;
 
 		// When plugins that add to the end of rendered content are installed, bodyOnly can
diff --git a/packages/app-desktop/gui/NoteEditor/utils/types.ts b/packages/app-desktop/gui/NoteEditor/utils/types.ts
index f5a498ed7a6..7a9935a89c4 100644
--- a/packages/app-desktop/gui/NoteEditor/utils/types.ts
+++ b/packages/app-desktop/gui/NoteEditor/utils/types.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import { Dispatch } from 'redux';
 import { ProcessResultsRow } from '@joplin/lib/services/search/SearchEngine';
 import { DropHandler } from './useDropHandler';
 import { SearchMarkers } from './useSearchMarkers';
+import { ParseOptions } from '@joplin/lib/HtmlToMd';
 
 export interface AllAssetsOptions {
 	contentMaxWidthTarget?: string;
@@ -85,7 +86,7 @@ export interface MarkupToHtmlOptions {
 }
 
 export type MarkupToHtmlHandler = (markupLanguage: MarkupLanguage, markup: string, options: MarkupToHtmlOptions)=> Promise<RenderResult>;
-export type HtmlToMarkdownHandler = (markupLanguage: number, html: string, originalCss: string)=> Promise<string>;
+export type HtmlToMarkdownHandler = (markupLanguage: number, html: string, originalCss: string, parseOptions?: ParseOptions)=> Promise<string>;
 
 export interface NoteBodyEditorProps {
 	// eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any -- Old code before rule was applied
diff --git a/packages/lib/models/settings/builtInMetadata.ts b/packages/lib/models/settings/builtInMetadata.ts
index d39652cb44d..2ba224b2e1d 100644
--- a/packages/lib/models/settings/builtInMetadata.ts
+++ b/packages/lib/models/settings/builtInMetadata.ts
@@ -658,6 +658,16 @@ const builtInMetadata = (Setting: typeof SettingType) => {
 			storage: SettingStorage.File,
 			isGlobal: true,
 		},
+		'editor.pastePreserveColors': {
+			value: false,
+			type: SettingItemType.Bool,
+			public: true,
+			section: 'note',
+			appTypes: [AppType.Desktop],
+			label: () => _('Preserve colours when pasting text in Rich Text Editor'),
+			storage: SettingStorage.File,
+			isGlobal: true,
+		},
 		'notes.columns': {
 			value: defaultListColumns(),
 			public: false,