I have been surprised to find out how few people have been taught how to copy and paste text on their computers. So, here’s a quick primer. I’ve also included a couple of links to resources that unlock all sorts of goodies via your computer’s keyboard.

How to copy and Paste using a Mouse

Left-click and drag with the mouse to select the text you want to copy. Then Right-click, with your mouse cursor on the highlighted text, and select ‘copy’ from the menu that pops up. This copies the text to the clipboard. By the way, the clipboard is an invisible place that Windows uses to temporarily hold things that are being copied.

To paste the copied text: position your cursor where you want to insert the text with a left click. Then right click on your mouse and select ‘paste’ from the menu that pops up. Or even better if you have the option, select ‘paste as plain text’. Your copied text will be inserted.

How to copy and Paste using a keyboard

Use the mouse to highlight the text you want to copy as shown above. Or here’s a handy tip, if you want to select all the text in a document or an input field put the cursor in the text you want to select and press the Ctrl key and the A key at the same time ( Ctrl + A ), the content of the text box will be highlighted, then press Ctrl + C to copy the text to the clipboard.

To paste the copied text: position your cursor where you want to insert the text with a left click of the mouse, then press Ctrl + V to paste the text. Your copied text will be inserted.

More keyboard goodies

There are dozens of useful keyboard shortcuts available like Ctrl + Z – Undo, that’s one I couldn’t live without.

Here’s a list for both Windows and Mac users: Keyboard Shortcuts

And here are some just for navigating your way around Windows, using the ‘Windows’ key.