This article came today in the ezine The Computer Lady by Elizabeth Boston. She is a delightful lady and has a knack for explaining things so easily about computers and how to do just about everything.
I have been getting a lot of requests lately for directions on
using copy and paste, or cut and paste, so I decided to address
this topic once again.
Before you can cut or copy text, you need to be able to highlight it.
There are several ways to do this.
1. Move your mouse to the beginning of your text, hold down the
left mouse button and slowly move the mouse to the end of the
text. When the text you want to use is highlighted, release the
mouse button.
2. With your mouse, click once at the beginning of your text.
Hold down the "Shift" key on your keyboard, and click once at
the end of the text. Everything between the first click and the
second will be highlighted.
3. Using the arrow keys move the cursor to the beginning of your
text, hold down the shift key while using the arrow keys to
move to the end of your text. This method works well for web
pages where the text you want to copy is larger than the screen.
4. Now we will copy what we highlighted. When you copy something,
you place it in a part of Windows memory called the clipboard.
5. To do this, you first highlight your text, and then click on
"Edit" and "Copy". Even though you can't see any changes, you
will now have your text on the clipboard.
6. To paste, you simply click where you want the text to go and
click "Edit" and "Paste".
Let's say that you want to send just this article in an e-mail to
your mother. First, you would highlight the article, then click
"Edit" and "Copy". Next, you open a new e-mail and address it
to your mom. Now click in the body of the e-mail where you want
the article to go, and click "Edit" and "Paste".
Your article is now in the new e-mail
An even easier way to do this, is to first highlight your text,
and then using your keyboard, press Ctrl + C.
This is the same as "Edit" and "Copy" and you will now have your
text on the clipboard.
To paste, you simply click where you want the text to go and
press Ctrl + V.
Not only is it faster and easier to use the keyboard shortcuts,
but it works in places where there is no "Edit" menu available.
If you can highlight the text, you can usually copy it.
For an illustrated tutorial on this topic, you can visit my
web site at:
www.asktcl.com/copypaste.html
Elizabeth