Cut and Paste
“What is cut and paste?” Well, put simply, it is like cutting a paragraph or picture out of a book, and then pasting it in to a document or working of your own. In terms of paragraphs, it is very much like using a `photocopier’, copying the document or image you wish to save or `paste’ elsewhere.
This technique works very well with computers and enables a user to copy part of a document or image to something they may be working on. Imagine you wanted to copy part of, or maybe this entire paragraph. The first thing you need to do, is single-left-click with your mouse, and then slide the cursor over the rest of the copy. This will produce a blue highlight over the document, now this part of the document can be copied.
To copy this part, right-click anywhere in the blue highlight, and then select (copy) from the shortcut menu. This will now store your copied data in memory ready for copying to another document or format. I have further expanded these concepts below.
How to Cut and Paste
To cut and paste, you first of all need to know how to `cut’. To cut something from a document, simply hold down the left mouse button with the cursor over the beginning of the paragraph you wish to cut, now simply drag the cursor down or across the page highlighting what you want. Our example was made using Microsoft's Word program.
You will see a blue highlight that encompasses your selection, now all you need to do is right-click with your mouse and select `cut' from the drop-down menu. Once you do this the selected highlight you cut will now be stored in RAM (or the windows clipboard) until you paste it somewhere. Now to paste it, simply place the cursor where you want within your document and right-click selecting `paste' as shown below.
This same principle applies to webpage’s, you can in fact, cut and paste, copy, print, etc.
You will also notice several other options that appear in the drop-down menu, you can select `Copy’, this allows you to just copy the material you have highlighted. In this respect you basically “copy” as though you where using this technique like a photocopier.
You can also print the selected material, should you choose to print, make sure you have clicked (print selection) before you click print as shown below. Otherwise the entire ducoment may be printed wasting your time, paper and money.
Should you wish to select the complete document instead of its components, you can click select all, this will then copy the entire document. This will also enable you to print all of it.
You can also repeat the process to save pictures or images from a document or even webpage’s. So if you would like to save an image from a website, right-click the image and select copy. Once again the material you `copied’ has now been sent to the clipboard waiting to be placed somewhere. All you have to do now is right-click and select `paste’ once gain to paste the image somewhere.
You can also right-click an image in a webpage and select `Save Picture As’, this will actually save the image to the My Pictures folder. You can do this with several images and then later cut and paste them in to your workings. (Just be aware of copyright infringement if you do!)
Using the right-click you can in fact, save, print, emial, and set images as backgrounds.
Should you choose to set an image as your desktop background, it will then become the wallpaper you see on your desktop with all the icons in front. If you do this and do not like what you see and wish to make changes, see: Changing the Desktop Background
I must also mention the `keystroke shortcuts’ for cut and paste, to cut using the keys, press Ctrl and X (Ctrl first and then X), to paste, press Ctrl + V (Also the same, Ctrl first and then V).
More often while using Windows, the shortcut keystrokes are:
Ctrl + X = Cut Ctrl + C = Copy Ctrl + V = Paste Ctrl + Z = Undo
More often while using Windows, the shortcut keystrokes are:
Ctrl + X = Cut Ctrl + C = Copy Ctrl + V = Paste Ctrl + Z = Undo
Cut and paste can be used in many computer programs and functions, experienced users’ very often cut and paste as a faster work-around while performing different tasks. The cut and paste function can be utilized for a myriad of tasks, you can, cut, copy and or paste for example; web browsers, word document images, paint and editing program images, emails, and the list goes on. Happy cut and pasting!