First Years logo
Professional Development through Distance Education

FIRST YEARS > FAQs Library > Copying and Pasting
vertical line divider Knowing how to select, copy and paste text is an important computer skill, whether you are creating/editing document files using application software or simply emailing a URL (Website address) to share with a friend.

The copy-paste procedure involves selecting "something" to be copied. Selection highlights, showing you exactly what you are working with. Then, you perform a copy operation - described below. Next, you change over to your destination, i.e. where you want to paste what you have copied. This might be inside an email message or a document you are creating. Once the destination is selected, you perform a paste operation. There are several ways to perform copy-paste operations -- right-clicking  (the easiest in my opinion), using the Edit menu, or doing it by keystrokes -- whichever works for you

Let's first see how you would copy and paste a URL.

Copying URLs

Action Windows-based applications Macintosh applications
1. Click/double-click within your browser's " Location textbox." As is indicated by the highlighting, this selects the entire URL.
Location textbox
2. Once selected, copy it into the clipboard, the "saving space" the system reserves for copied items.
  1. Right-click, then select Copy from the menu that appears.
  2. ctrl+c (While holding the ctrl key down, press the letter c.)
  3. Click the Edit > Copy option on the Toolbar menu.
 command+c
3. Change over to where you'd like to paste it and click to position the pointer.
4 Paste the clipboard contents.
  1. Right-click, then select Paste from the menu that appears.
  2. ctrl+v (While holding the ctrl key down, press the letter v.)
  3. Click the Edit, then Paste options on the Toolbar menu.
 command+v
Note: Using the keystroke method (ctrl+c or ctrl+v) works in contexts where a menu may not be available -- the sure-fire technique to copy/paste. Practice it!

Copying the whole document text
Pressing ctrl and "a" ("a" meaning all) selects (usually) all the text in a document. Or, select Edit form the Toolbar menu, then Select All. Now follow steps 2 - 3 in the table above, which allow you to copy the selected text, then position the pointer where you want to paste what you have copied.

If ctrl+a or Edit > Select All don't seem to work, use the "click, hold and drag" technique described below.

Copying rectangular text areas
Selecting text in document files involves a "click, drag and hold" technique to highlight/select a rectangular "box" of text.
Click, drag and hold to select an area of text.
Now follow steps 2 - 3 in the table above, which allow you to copy the selected text, then position the pointer where you want to paste what you have copied.
Bobby WorldWide Approved 508
05/25/03
Alexander Graham Bell Association | UNC-CH Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences
© FIRST YEARS, Last update: April 2006, Maintained by FIRST YEARS Webmaster