How to Cut, Copy, and Paste.
A handy feature in all versions of the Windows operating system is Cut, Copy, and Paste. The cut, copy and paste functions work in and between most text or graphic oriented programs including the web browser you are using right now to view this page. To follow along with this tutorial, you should open up a word processor like MS Word, Open Office Writer, or anything similar that you have and are fairly familiar with so we have somewhere to Paste what we are about to Copy. Now, create a new document by clicking your mouse on File then New in the upper left hand corner of the program. That being done, we must first select some text to cut, or copy. Lets copy the headline at the top of this tutorial.
To Copy
- Put your mouse cursor over the H in How To...
- Hold down the left mouse button and drag the cursor to the end of the headline and then release the mouse button. If done correctly this should have highlighted the headline. The highlighted text is now considered to be Selected.
- Right click anywhere on the Selected text using the button on the right hand side of your mouse to bring up a menu.
- From that menu click on the option; Copy, with your left mouse button.
Thats it. You have just copied the selected text to what is called the Clipboard. You can't see the clipboard or it's contents, you just have to trust that its there. (That is just one of the clipboards shortcomings. I'll show you how to solve that in a minute.)
To Paste
- With the button on the right hand side of your mouse, right click anywhere in the new document that you created with your word processor earlier.
- Click on the Paste option in the resulting menu with the left mouse button. The copied text should now appear in your new document.
Thats all there is to it. The difference between Copy and Cut is; Copy makes a copy of the selected text and puts it on the clipboard, where Cut puts a copy of it on the clipboard and then removes the selected text from the document. Paste works the same whether you used Cut or Copy. It works with graphics too. Right click the Evbolution Software image at the top of this page and click on Copy. (Or Copy Image if you're using firefox. ) Now go back to your new document, right click, and select Paste.
With practice these functions can make your life a little easier if you work with a lot of text,
Power point presentations, emails, etc.
I hope this tutorial was helpful. If you have any questions feel free to contact me.
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Please read on to learn how I have improved the Cut, Copy, and Paste experience to make your computer time more enjoyable, less frustrating and less time consuming, so you can spend less time working, and more time doing the things you would rather be doing. It has made my life so much easier.