Computer and Software Support


How to copy, cut or paste

You can copy, cut or paste files from one location to another location. You can use this feature in the following places...

  • Windows Explorer - to move or copy files from one folder to another folder.
  • Spreadsheets (Excel) - to move or copy cells from one location to another
  • Documents (such as Word documents) - to move or copy text, graphics or other items in a document.
  • Various other uses.

 

You can also do the following

There is a difference in the different options

  • Copy - Copy command will make a copy of the item you choose. It will leave the original item alone. So if you had an item in your document that you need to be in your document more than once, you can copy it and then use the paste command to past additional items  (It will stay in memory till you copy or cut something else or if you reboot the computer). As in the example below, when you highlight the word item and do a copy, the word item goes into memory, but as you see, the word item stays in the sentence
   

 

  • Cut - Removes the item from the location it is at and puts it in memory. (It will stay in memory till you copy or cut something else or if you reboot the computer). As in the example below, when you highlight the word item and do a cut, the word item goes into memory, but as you see, the word item disappears in the sentence

  • Paste - Will paste the item that you had cut or copied earlier at the location that you designated. As mentioned above, when you copy or cut a word, it goes into memory. As in the example above, the word "item" would be in memory. If I would do a paste here, the word "item" would appear where I did the paste.
   

Normally, you will use the left click on everything unless specifically instructed to. Some people will reverse the buttons and if that is the case then reverse the instructions on this page.  Also some mice have more than two buttons but the left one is normally button for selecting. On the mice that has more than two buttons, you will need to consult the instructions on that device for the layout of the mouse.

On most mice (unless the button arrangement has been altered), the right mouse button will give you a drop down menu when you press it over an item on the screen. To choose that item, left click the item.

If you try to paste a text or a picture into a document more than once, you will be successful. You can have duplicate text or graphic inserts (pictures inserted into documents).

If you try to paste a file into a location that already has a file with that filename in it, you will get a message that a file with that name already exists and asks you if you want to overwrite it or not.

To copy or cut a file to the clipboard, there is different ways you can do this.

First way to copy or cut a file or text.

  1. Highlight the file you want to copy or cut
  2. Right click on the file and a menu will appear.
  3. Left click on Copy or Cut

Second way to copy or cut a file or text.

  1. Highlight the file you want to copy or cut
  2. Click on Edit on the menu bar
   
  • Click on copy or cut.

    • Third way to copy or cut a file or text is to use the keyboard.

    1. Highlight the file you want to copy or cut.
    2. Press the "CTRL" key and keep it pressed.
    3. While holding the "CTRL" key down, Press the letter "C" to copy or the letter "X" to cut.

     

    To paste a file, following steps

    First way to paste a file or text.

    1. Choose the location you want to paste the file or text.
    2. Right click on the file and a menu will appear.
    3. Left click on paste
       

    Second way to paste a file or text.

    1. Choose the location you want to paste the file or text.
    2. Click on Edit on the menu bar
       
  • Click on paste.
    •    

    Third way to paste a file or text is to use the keyboard.

    1. Choose the location you want to paste the file or text.
    2. Press the "CTRL" key and keep it pressed.
    3. While holding the "CTRL" key down, Press the letter "V" to paste the file or text.

     

    To copy or cut all the files in a folder from point A to point C, do the following.

    1. Highlight the first file in the folder you want to copy or cut.
    2. Hold the "Shift" key down.
    3. While holding the "Shift" key down, Click on the last file that you want to copy or cut.
    4. All files from point A to point C will be highlighted.
    5. Follow one of the three steps above to copy or Cut the file.

    To copy or cut more than one file but not all files from point A to point C, do the following.

    1. Highlight the first file in the folder you want to copy or cut.
    2. Hold the "CTRL" key down.
    3. While holding the "CTRL" key down, click on each file you want copied or cut.
    4. Now only the files you selected will be highlighted.
    5. Follow one of the three steps above to copy or Cut the file.

     

    To copy or cut text, you have to have the text highlighted. to do that follow these steps.

    First option

    1. Put the cursor at the beginning of the text you want to copy or cut.
    2. Press and hold down the left mouse button
    3. While holding the left mouse button down, drag the cursor over the text.
    4. When you have all the text highlighted that you want copied or cut, let go of the button.
    5. Follow the steps above to copy or cut the text.

    Second option

    1. Put the cursor at the beginning of the text you want to copy or cut.
    2. Press and hold down the Shift key
    3. While holding the shift key press the right arrow key till all the text you want highlighted is highlighted.
    4. Follow the steps above to copy or cut the text.

    Highlighting files

    Definition of highlighting a file

    When you highlight a file, it means to Click and hold down the mouse while you drag the mouse over text. As you drag, the text becomes highlighted. For example, if I wanted to highlight the word from in the sentence "paste files from" I would put the cursor before the word from, click and hold the left mouse button. While holding the button down, I would drag the mouse over the entire word from. When you have it highlighted it would look as follows

       

     

    Highlighting more than one file in a row follow these steps

    1. Click once to highlight the first file
    2. Hold down the Shift key and click on the last file
    3. All files between the first file and the last file will be highlighted

     

    To highlight several files that are not next to each other do the following

    1. Click once to highlight the first file
    2. Hold down the CTRL key (keep it pressed down) and click on each file you want highlighted