Q. How easy is it to copy text into a different document?
A. The ability to copy words and sentences in one application and paste them into another is hugely important and a great
time saver. There are a few steps you need to know, and when you have them mastered there are keyboard shortcuts to make you faster:
- Select the text you wish to copy. The easiest way is click at the beginning, drag your mouse through the text and then let go the click. You could also click at the beginning of the text and then hold down the upper case key and click again at the end of the text. If you want to capture all the text, then go up to the Edit menu and choose 'Select All'.
- Your selected text will now be highlighted. Next step is to copy the text and the easiest way to do this is to go to the Edit menu and choose 'Copy'. When you copy text you are not removing it from its existing site, you are making a new copy that you can use to transfer the selected text to another location or application.
- Once your text is selected and copied then the next action is to paste the copy into its destination. This could be a document or note or letter or email. You move your mouse to the new location, click where you want the text to appear and then go the Edit menu and choose 'Paste'. Get used to doing this manually a few times and then try out the keyboard shortcuts. These are:
- Select All is Control A (ctrl A), this means hold down the control key and hit the letter A. On a Mac it is Command A (cmd A) rather than Control A.
- Copy is Control C or on a Mac Command C
- Paste is Control V or on a Mac Command V.