Can the comments box be set to default to plain text

SOLVED

Hello
I need to be able to manipulate the data from field TEXCLOB.TEXTE_0 in my Crystal report by splitting it to create new fields. The problem I have is that the data contains formatting characters for rtf and this contains endless combinations of font types and sizes (e.g.{\rtf1\ansi{\fonttbl{\f0 MS Sans Serif;}}\uc0\pard\fs22 ). I was thinking that if I could default the comments text to plain text then I could strip out the formatting characters in my Crystal formula field. I can't find any setting or parameter which may control this. Has anyone any experience of dealing with this?
Many thanks
Sara