How to Cut, Copy, and Paste
There are actually four ways to do Copy and Paste in almost all programs. Here they are.
The Copy and Paste buttons, or icons on any Microsoft product toolbar are all the same. Most all other products have mimicked their icons as well. The COPY button from the toolbar is located just to the right of the Scissors and looks like two pieces of paper next to each other.
The PASTE button is found to the right of the COPY button and looks like a little brown ClipBoard.
Notice that until you "highlight" an area to "copy", the Copy button is grayed out. This is to tell you that there is nothing selected to "copy".
Let us say I would like to copy this line and Paste it to another place in this letter, or to another document.
First, using the mouse, click just in front of the "L" in "Let" above. Hold down the left mouse button, and drag the mouse to the end of the word "document." The line will become "highlighted" or dark, indicating the area you are going to copy. Then lift up on the left mouse button. The area you highlighted will be what we are going to copy.
Next, click the COPY button on the toolbar. Nothing will appear to happen, but when you return to your document the area you highlighted is kept in memory by the program to "paste" elsewhere. When you "copy" something, it's like taking a photocopy of an original. You do not disturb the original at all, it is still where you left it, you are just taking a snapshot of it for an extra copy.
Next, move your mouse or cursor to where you'd like to paste what you just copied. Note; be sure you have inserted some blank lines on the page where you want to copy. If you are at the end of your document, the Paste operation will place what you copied at the very bottom. I'll copy that line below.
Let us say I would like to COPY this line and Paste it to another place in this letter, or to another document.
There, that is using the buttons to copy and paste. Now something to remember. What you copied, that line above let us say, is still in memory. You can move to another place on your document and continue to hit the paste button, and it will copy the same line again. What you copied will be pasted over and over again, until you select something else to be copied.
Before there were buttons for copy and paste the old way to copy and paste were combinations of the Ctrl key (located on the bottom left corner of your keyboard) and letters reserved for different functions.
As before, place your cursor, using the mouse or your arrow keys, before the area you want to copy. Highlight the area by holding down the left mouse button, and dragging the mouse over the area you want to copy. The highlighted area will be what you are going to copy. Lift up on the mouse button, and the area remains highlighted. Now press down on the Ctrl key and while holding it down, press the letter "c" once. Lift up on the Ctrl key. You have "copied" that highlighted area into memory. Nothing appears to have happened though.
Move your cursor to where you want to "paste" your copied material. Now press down the Ctrl key again, and while holding it down, press the letter "v" once. Immediately you will see your pasted copy appear. Lift up on the Ctrl key. You are done. Easy huh?
You can continue to move your cursor anywhere in the document, and hit Ctrl V to continue to "paste" the same material over and over again until you "copy" something else into memory.
As before, place your cursor, using the mouse or your arrow keys, before the area you want to copy. Highlight the area by holding down the left mouse button, and dragging the mouse over the area you want to copy. The highlighted area will be what you are going to copy. Lift up on the mouse button, and the area remains highlighted.
This time, move the mouse pointer (don't click the left mouse button though) so it's inside any part of the highlighted area. Press the Right Click button of your mouse. A little window appears with options on it. Look at that! There are our little friends copy and paste again.
Just click the "copy" icon and you have copied the highlighted area into memory. The window will disappear. You are now ready to paste that copied section.
Move your cursor to the place where you want to "paste" the copied material, and press the Right Click button of your mouse again. Now click on the Paste icon. Viola, your material is "pasted" where your cursor was located.
Ok, that was easy enough right. However, maybe you have a problem controlling that dumb mouse and highlighting an area. Here is another way to highlight an area to copy.
Move your cursor to the area you want to start copying using your mouse or your arrow keys. Hold down the SHIFT key with your left hand, and use the arrow keys to highlight an area. If you were to place your cursor at the beginning of this paragraph before the "M" in "Move", and press the DOWN ARROW key, you'll notice that the entire first line is highlighted. If you were to press the RIGHT ARROW key however, you will notice that characters are highlighted as you move to the right while holding down the SHIFT key. Never lift up on the SHIFT key until you have highlighted what you want to copy. If you lift up on the SHIFT key while moving the arrow keys, you will lose the area you were highlighting. You will need to start over again.
Once you have highlighted what you want using the arrow keys, just lift up on the SHIFT key. Now you can click the Copy button, or use Ctrl c, or right click with the mouse in the highlighted area and select the copy icon to begin the copy and paste operation.
If you need to copy large areas of your document do this. Move your cursor to the beginning of the area you want to copy. Hold down the SHIFT key, and while holding it down, press the PAGE DOWN key on the right of your keyboard. Now large blocks of your document are highlighted. Still holding down on the SHIFT key, you can finish highlighting with the arrow keys to fine tune your selected area. When done highlighting, lift up on the SHIFT key, and you can begin your copy and paste operation.
However, what if you want to copy your entire document? Do this. Press the Ctrl key, and while holding it down, press the "Home" key on the right side of the keyboard. Your cursor will move to the very beginning of your document. It is a quick and easy way just to get to the very TOP of your document. Lift up on the Ctrl key now. Hold down the SHIFT key with a left finger, still holding down the SHIFT key, press down the Ctrl key with another left finger. Now you have the SHIFT and the Ctrl keys pressed down. Still holding those two keys down, press the "End" key on the right side of your keyboard once. The cursor will move to the very bottom of your document, highlighting the entire thing this time. Lift up the SHIFT and Ctrl Keys and everything is still highlighted. Now use your Copy and Paste features just as before.
Cut is a nice little feature to use if you decide you want to move something in your document from one place to another. Don't blank it out and retype it all over again! Use the cut feature. Think of this as using a pair of scissors to "cut" it out of one place, and using the "paste" button to paste that cut item somewhere else.
The cut button is the Scissors you see on the toolbar or on the menu that appears when you press the right click button on your mouse. It works just like copy, but will remove the original from it's current location where copy made an exact duplicate of what you highlighted.
When the cut button is grayed out, you cannot use this option. Just as when you use "copy", you must have something highlighted for this feature to be active.
To use cut, move your cursor to the beginning of the area you want to move. Hold down the SHIFT key, and still holding down the SHIFT key, use the mouse or arrow keys or PAGE DOWN key to highlight the area you want to "cut". Then lift up on the SHIFT key, and cut the section out in one of three ways.
1) Move the mouse to the Scissors on the tool bar and click the scissors.
2) Move the mouse into any part of the highlighted area (be careful not to press the left click button on the mouse) and press the Right Click button on the mouse. You will see the Scissors on the little window that pops up, and click on the scissors.
3) Press down the Ctrl key and while holding it down, press the letter "x".
When you do any of the above, your highlighted area will immediately disappear. You have successfully "cut" out your material. Don't panic, it is now kept in memory, just like "copy" did, for you to "paste" it somewhere else.
Now you can move your cursor to the area where you want to paste or insert your material. Use the Paste button on the toolbar, or Ctrl v, or right click and click the paste icon to complete your paste operation.
WHAT????? You don't have a "Toolbar"? Well, at the top of your Word program, or Notepad, or basically any program, click the "Edit" option at the top left of the screen. You'll see "Cut", "Copy", and "Paste" options. Guess what? Just click those options, every where we told you to click the cut, copy, or paste icons on the tool bar. It's that easy!
Good computing,
Michael
| RETURN TO MY HOME PAGE |
|
Return to the LINKS Page |