How To Copy And Paste

Many computer professionals consider how to copy and paste the most basic, must-have computer skill. Copy and paste is used in a number of applications, from inserting a URL into the address bar of your browser to editing documents in your favorite word processing program. Luckily, it is very easy to learn how to copy and paste. Just follow the steps below.

To copy and paste, you will need:

• a computer
• a mouse or touchpad
• a keyboard

To copy and paste:

1. Highlight the text that you want to copy. To do this, hold down the left button on your mouse or touchpad while tracing over the desired text. If you highlight text that you do not want, just click once on the screen to deselect it.
2. Hold down the control button and click "C". The control button is the one at the lower edge of your keyboard with the characters "ctrl" on it. This step is also often written as "ctrl+c".
3. Put your cursor in the place where you want to paste the text. To do this, move your cursor to that space and click. The cursor should turn from an arrow to a blinking text cursor, which is a vertical line.
4. Hold down the control button (ctrl) and click "V". The copied text should appear. This step is also often noted as "ctrl+v".

Tips:

• If you want to copy and paste a whole page, you can select all text by holding down the control key and hitting "A".
• The reason that paste is "ctrl+v" instead of "ctrl+p" is that "ctrl+p" is already used as the keyboard shortcut for "print."