diff --git a/packages/ckeditor5-clipboard/src/clipboard.js b/packages/ckeditor5-clipboard/src/clipboard.js
index fd72d74f9db..8e1bd943fe3 100644
--- a/packages/ckeditor5-clipboard/src/clipboard.js
+++ b/packages/ckeditor5-clipboard/src/clipboard.js
@@ -115,15 +115,25 @@ export default class Clipboard extends Plugin {
 					return;
 				}
 
-				// Plain text can be determined based on event flag (#7799) or auto detection (#1006). If detected
-				// preserve selection attributes on pasted items.
-				if ( data.asPlainText || isPlainTextFragment( modelFragment ) ) {
-					// Consider only formatting attributes.
-					const textAttributes = new Map( Array.from( modelDocument.selection.getAttributes() ).filter(
-						keyValuePair => editor.model.schema.getAttributeProperties( keyValuePair[ 0 ] ).isFormatting
-					) );
-
-					model.change( writer => {
+				model.change( writer => {
+					const selection = model.document.selection;
+
+					// Plain text can be determined based on event flag (#7799) or auto detection (#1006). If detected
+					// preserve selection attributes on pasted items.
+					if ( data.asPlainText || isPlainTextFragment( modelFragment, model.schema ) ) {
+						// Formatting attributes should be preserved.
+						const textAttributes = Array.from( selection.getAttributes() )
+							.filter( ( [ key ] ) => model.schema.getAttributeProperties( key ).isFormatting );
+
+						if ( !selection.isCollapsed ) {
+							model.deleteContent( selection, { doNotAutoparagraph: true } );
+						}
+
+						// But also preserve other attributes if they survived the content deletion (because they were not fully selected).
+						// For example linkHref is not a formatting attribute but it should be preserved if pasted text was in the middle
+						// of a link.
+						textAttributes.push( ...selection.getAttributes() );
+
 						const range = writer.createRangeIn( modelFragment );
 
 						for ( const item of range.getItems() ) {
@@ -131,10 +141,10 @@ export default class Clipboard extends Plugin {
 								writer.setAttributes( textAttributes, item );
 							}
 						}
-					} );
-				}
+					}
 
-				model.insertContent( modelFragment );
+					model.insertContent( modelFragment );
+				} );
 
 				evt.stop();
 			}
@@ -235,13 +245,18 @@ export default class Clipboard extends Plugin {
 // Returns true if specified `documentFragment` represents a plain text.
 //
 // @param {module:engine/view/documentfragment~DocumentFragment} documentFragment
+// @param {module:engine/model/schema~Schema} schema
 // @returns {Boolean}
-function isPlainTextFragment( documentFragment ) {
+function isPlainTextFragment( documentFragment, schema ) {
 	if ( documentFragment.childCount > 1 ) {
 		return false;
 	}
 
 	const child = documentFragment.getChild( 0 );
 
+	if ( schema.isObject( child ) ) {
+		return false;
+	}
+
 	return [ ...child.getAttributeKeys() ].length == 0;
 }
diff --git a/packages/ckeditor5-clipboard/tests/clipboard.js b/packages/ckeditor5-clipboard/tests/clipboard.js
index a68ea5e52fa..0a7e4731774 100644
--- a/packages/ckeditor5-clipboard/tests/clipboard.js
+++ b/packages/ckeditor5-clipboard/tests/clipboard.js
@@ -231,6 +231,7 @@ describe( 'Clipboard feature', () => {
 
 			viewDocument.fire( 'paste', {
 				dataTransfer: dataTransferMock,
+				stopPropagation() {},
 				preventDefault() {}
 			} );
 
@@ -526,23 +527,61 @@ describe( 'Clipboard feature', () => {
 				expect( getModelData( model ) ).to.equal( '<paragraph><$text bold="true">Bolded []text.</$text></paragraph>' );
 			} );
 
-			it( 'ignores non-formatting text attributes', () => {
-				setModelData( model, '<paragraph><$text test="true">Bolded []text.</$text></paragraph>' );
+			it( 'should preserve non formatting attribute if it wasn\'t fully selected', () => {
+				setModelData( model, '<paragraph><$text test="true">Linked [text].</$text></paragraph>' );
 
-				const dataTransferMock = createDataTransfer( {
-					'text/html': 'foo',
-					'text/plain': 'foo'
+				viewDocument.fire( 'clipboardInput', {
+					dataTransfer: createDataTransfer( {
+						'text/html': 'foo',
+						'text/plain': 'foo'
+					} ),
+					stopPropagation() {},
+					preventDefault() {}
 				} );
 
+				expect( getModelData( model ) ).to.equal( '<paragraph><$text test="true">Linked foo[].</$text></paragraph>' );
+			} );
+
+			it( 'should not preserve non formatting attribute if it was fully selected', () => {
+				setModelData( model, '<paragraph><$text test="true">[Linked text.]</$text></paragraph>' );
+
 				viewDocument.fire( 'clipboardInput', {
-					dataTransfer: dataTransferMock,
-					asPlainText: false,
+					dataTransfer: createDataTransfer( {
+						'text/html': 'foo',
+						'text/plain': 'foo'
+					} ),
+					stopPropagation() {},
+					preventDefault() {}
+				} );
+
+				expect( getModelData( model ) ).to.equal( '<paragraph>foo[]</paragraph>' );
+			} );
+
+			it( 'should not treat a pasted object as a plain text', () => {
+				model.schema.register( 'obj', {
+					allowWhere: '$block',
+					isObject: true,
+					isBlock: true
+				} );
+
+				editor.conversion.elementToElement( { model: 'obj', view: 'obj' } );
+
+				setModelData( model, '<paragraph><$text bold="true">Bolded [text].</$text></paragraph>' );
+
+				viewDocument.fire( 'clipboardInput', {
+					dataTransfer: createDataTransfer( {
+						'text/html': '<obj></obj>',
+						'text/plain': 'foo'
+					} ),
 					stopPropagation() {},
 					preventDefault() {}
 				} );
 
 				expect( getModelData( model ) ).to.equal(
-					'<paragraph><$text test="true">Bolded </$text>foo[]<$text test="true">text.</$text></paragraph>' );
+					'<paragraph><$text bold="true">Bolded </$text></paragraph>' +
+					'[<obj></obj>]' +
+					'<paragraph><$text bold="true">.</$text></paragraph>'
+				);
 			} );
 		} );
 
diff --git a/packages/ckeditor5-link/tests/linkediting.js b/packages/ckeditor5-link/tests/linkediting.js
index 7d0dc37c65f..ee13d361934 100644
--- a/packages/ckeditor5-link/tests/linkediting.js
+++ b/packages/ckeditor5-link/tests/linkediting.js
@@ -51,6 +51,9 @@ describe( 'LinkEditing', () => {
 		} );
 
 		editor.model.schema.extend( '$text', { allowAttributes: 'bold' } );
+		editor.model.schema.setAttributeProperties( 'bold', {
+			isFormatting: true
+		} );
 
 		editor.conversion.attributeToElement( {
 			model: 'bold',
@@ -143,7 +146,7 @@ describe( 'LinkEditing', () => {
 
 	// https://github.com/ckeditor/ckeditor5/issues/6053
 	describe( 'selection attribute management on paste', () => {
-		it( 'should remove link atttributes when pasting a link', () => {
+		it( 'should remove link attributes when pasting a link', () => {
 			setModelData( model, '<paragraph>foo[]</paragraph>' );
 
 			model.change( writer => {
@@ -155,7 +158,7 @@ describe( 'LinkEditing', () => {
 			expect( [ ...model.document.selection.getAttributeKeys() ] ).to.be.empty;
 		} );
 
-		it( 'should remove all atttributes starting with "link" (e.g. decorator attributes) when pasting a link', () => {
+		it( 'should remove all attributes starting with "link" (e.g. decorator attributes) when pasting a link', () => {
 			setModelData( model, '<paragraph>foo[]</paragraph>' );
 
 			model.change( writer => {
@@ -171,7 +174,7 @@ describe( 'LinkEditing', () => {
 			expect( [ ...model.document.selection.getAttributeKeys() ] ).to.be.empty;
 		} );
 
-		it( 'should not remove link atttributes when pasting a non-link content', () => {
+		it( 'should not remove link attributes when pasting a non-link content', () => {
 			setModelData( model, '<paragraph><$text linkHref="ckeditor.com">foo[]</$text></paragraph>' );
 
 			model.change( writer => {
@@ -188,7 +191,7 @@ describe( 'LinkEditing', () => {
 			expect( model.document.selection ).to.have.attribute( 'bold' );
 		} );
 
-		it( 'should not remove link atttributes when pasting in the middle of a link with the same URL', () => {
+		it( 'should not remove link attributes when pasting in the middle of a link with the same URL', () => {
 			setModelData( model, '<paragraph><$text linkHref="ckeditor.com">fo[]o</$text></paragraph>' );
 
 			model.change( writer => {
@@ -199,7 +202,7 @@ describe( 'LinkEditing', () => {
 			expect( model.document.selection ).to.have.attribute( 'linkHref' );
 		} );
 
-		it( 'should not remove link atttributes from the selection when pasting before a link when the gravity is overridden', () => {
+		it( 'should not remove link attributes from the selection when pasting before a link when the gravity is overridden', () => {
 			setModelData( model, '<paragraph>foo[]<$text linkHref="ckeditor.com">bar</$text></paragraph>' );
 
 			view.document.fire( 'keydown', {
@@ -226,7 +229,7 @@ describe( 'LinkEditing', () => {
 			expect( model.document.selection ).to.have.attribute( 'linkHref' );
 		} );
 
-		it( 'should not remove link atttributes when pasting a link into another link (different URLs, no merge)', () => {
+		it( 'should not remove link attributes when pasting a link into another link (different URLs, no merge)', () => {
 			setModelData( model, '<paragraph><$text linkHref="ckeditor.com">f[]oo</$text></paragraph>' );
 
 			model.change( writer => {
@@ -244,7 +247,7 @@ describe( 'LinkEditing', () => {
 			expect( model.document.selection ).to.have.attribute( 'linkHref' );
 		} );
 
-		it( 'should not remove link atttributes when pasting before another link (different URLs, no merge)', () => {
+		it( 'should not remove link attributes when pasting before another link (different URLs, no merge)', () => {
 			setModelData( model, '<paragraph>[]<$text linkHref="ckeditor.com">foo</$text></paragraph>' );
 
 			expect( model.document.selection ).to.have.property( 'isGravityOverridden', false );
@@ -263,6 +266,43 @@ describe( 'LinkEditing', () => {
 			expect( model.document.selection ).to.have.attribute( 'linkHref' );
 			expect( model.document.selection ).to.have.attribute( 'linkHref', 'http://INSERTED' );
 		} );
+
+		// https://github.com/ckeditor/ckeditor5/issues/8158
+		it( 'should expand link text on pasting plain text', () => {
+			setModelData( model, '<paragraph><$text linkHref="ckeditor.com">f[]oo</$text></paragraph>' );
+
+			view.document.fire( 'paste', {
+				dataTransfer: createDataTransfer( {
+					'text/html': '<p>bar</p>',
+					'text/plain': 'bar'
+				} ),
+				preventDefault: sinon.spy(),
+				stopPropagation: sinon.spy()
+			} );
+
+			expect( getModelData( model ) ).to.equal(
+				'<paragraph>' +
+					'<$text linkHref="ckeditor.com">fbar[]oo</$text>' +
+				'</paragraph>'
+			);
+		} );
+
+		it( 'doesn\'t affect attributes other than link', () => {
+			setModelData( model, '<paragraph><$text bold="true">[foo]</$text></paragraph>' );
+
+			view.document.fire( 'paste', {
+				dataTransfer: createDataTransfer( {
+					'text/html': '<p>bar</p>',
+					'text/plain': 'bar'
+				} ),
+				preventDefault: sinon.spy(),
+				stopPropagation: sinon.spy()
+			} );
+
+			expect( getModelData( model ) ).to.equal(
+				'<paragraph><$text bold="true">bar[]</$text></paragraph>'
+			);
+		} );
 	} );
 
 	describe( 'command', () => {
@@ -1397,15 +1437,6 @@ describe( 'LinkEditing', () => {
 				'<paragraph>This is Abcde[]from <$text linkHref="bar">Bar</$text>.</paragraph>'
 			);
 		} );
-
-		function createDataTransfer( data ) {
-			return {
-				getData( type ) {
-					return data[ type ];
-				},
-				setData() {}
-			};
-		}
 	} );
 
 	// https://github.com/ckeditor/ckeditor5/issues/7521
@@ -1586,4 +1617,13 @@ describe( 'LinkEditing', () => {
 			expect( model.document.selection.hasAttribute( 'linkHref' ), 'removing space after the link' ).to.equal( true );
 		} );
 	} );
+
+	function createDataTransfer( data ) {
+		return {
+			getData( type ) {
+				return data[ type ];
+			},
+			setData() {}
+		};
+	}
 } );