The Basics of Cut and Paste

By Sandy Berger

Remember your first pair of scissors? Little tiny ones for little tiny fingers and rounded points for safety sake. Learning to cut along the edge was an early lesson in kindergarten. After cutting, next you paste your picture or shape on another page. The computer world uses a very similar technique to move information from one location to another. Once you have learned to cut and paste, your computing days will be very productive.

What?

Okay, in computerize, what is Cut and Paste? Cut and Paste and its good buddy Copy and Paste are computer functions that allow you to move or copy text, images, and even Web information from one location to another location. The Cut function removes the information from its original location, and Paste puts it someplace else. Using the Copy/Paste functions, you can copy information to a new location without removing it from the original location.

How?

Let's start with moving some text. Using your mouse, place the cursor at the beginning of the text you want to move so that you can highlight the text. Click and hold down the left mouse button and drag the cursor to the end of the text that you want to move. This will highlight (darken) the text. You now have several ways to cut the selection:

1. Click on the Cut icon (the scissors) on the toolbar, or
2. Select Cut from the Edit Menu at the top of the screen, or
3. Press and hold down the Ctrl key and press the X key at the same time, or
4. Press the Delete key.

The text will disappear.

After you have cut the text, place your cursor at the location where you want the text to be displayed. Again, there are several choices to "paste" the text:

1. Click on the Paste icon (the clipboard on the toolbar), or
2. Select Paste from the Edit Menu at the top of the screen, or
3. Press and hold down the Ctrl key while pressing the V key at the same time.

Any of these three choices will "paste" the selection in the new location.

If you want to copy some text and place it in another location, select the text as mentioned above. To copy:

1. Click on the Copy icon (the two pieces of paper on the toolbar), or
2. Select Copy from the Edit Menu at the top of the page, or
3. Press and hold down the Ctrl key while pressing the C key at the same time.

To Paste a copy of the text into a new location, follow the Paste directions above.

Behind the Scenes

When you use the Cut or Copy functions, the information is stored in the computer's memory in an area called the Clipboard. Although you cannot see the information, it remains in the computer Clipboard until you use the Copy or Cut command again, at which time the information that was previously in the Clipboard is overwritten with the latest information that you just copied. Newer Microsoft Office Products, like Microsoft Word, allow you to keep more than one item in the Clipboard at one time.

Grayed Out

If you are ready to Cut or Copy and you find that you cannot click on the cut or copy icon, it means that you do not have anything highlighted. When nothing is highlighted, the Scissors (Cut) icon and the Paper (Copy) icon will be light gray in color, which indicates they are currently unavailable. Run your mouse across some text to highlight it, and you will see both icons brighten and become active.

Select All

Have you found an entire document or maybe Web page that you would like to copy or move? Click your mouse anywhere in the document or Web page, then go to the Edit menu and choose Select All.

Select All is a very helpful feature that can save you much time and energy. When using Select All, the computer will do the highlighting work for you and highlight the entire document or Web page. This saves you from having to run your cursor over the entire page to highlight it. You can then follow the usual steps to copy and paste the complete selection in another document. Guess what? If you are on the Internet, you can copy the complete page - text, hot links, and images as well.

Working with Images

Did you say images? Can you really Copy and Paste images and pictures? The answer is emphatically YES. It is possible to Cut/Copy/Paste images. When working in a word processing document or another similar application program, you can simply click on an image to choose it and then copy or paste it, just as you would text. When you are on the Internet, it is even easier. You can simply right-click on any image and select Copy from the pop-up menu. Or you can right-click the image and select Save Picture As.

A quick tip: If you use the Save Picture As option, be sure you name the graphic and be careful to place it in a folder that you can easily locate in the future. If you have a My Pictures folder, that is a good spot.

Very Valuable Skill

Even though its name may have brought back memories of a kindergarten assignment, Cut/Copy/Paste is a very valuable computer skill. I'm sure you will agree with me that mastering this basic skill of copying and moving text and graphics will make your computing days very productive.