If you are a new computer user, there are 3 basic things you will want to learn for working
with text. They are cut, copy, and paste. There are at least 3 ways you can accomplish these
tasks, with your mouse, with the Edit menu, and with your keyboard. Of course, you will also need to know how to
hilite text before you can do these things, so I will begin with how to hilite text. I will
be using Windows 98 as an example, but this is very similar on other operating systems.
If the window or page you are viewing has words on it, you probably have a menu bar along the
top. Look for "Edit" and click on it. When you see the drop down menu, click "Select All".
This hilites all the text on the page. You have now selected the text on the entire page.
To hilite or select a specific block of text, you can click once with your mouse at the exact
spot you want to begin the hilite. Now, hold down one of the shift keys on your keyboard while
you click once at the exact spot you want the hilite to end. You have now selected or hilited
a specific block of text. You can also hold your left mouse button down and drag the mouse
cursor across the text you want to select. Sometimes this is faster. Now that the text is
selected, you can do some stuff with it.
If you want to copy text, just hilite it using one of the methods above, click the "Edit"
menu at the top of the page, and click copy. To use your mouse to copy, right click on the
hilited text, and click copy. You can copy the hilited text using your keyboard, by holding
down the "Ctrl" key, and while holding it down, pressing the "C" key. Note: Sometimes, when
using other applications, such as Java chatrooms, you can't use the mouse or the Edit menu
to copy. But, you can usually use the keyboard method.
You can use "Cut" to copy and move text to another location. You can "Cut" text by using the
same procedures as "Copy", except you select "Cut". To cut with the keyboard, hold down the
"Ctrl" and "X" keys. You can only "Cut" text that you typed yourself, or in certain cases
where you have "Write" permissions to a file.
Once you have copied or cut text from an application, you want to paste it somewhere. You have
probably already guessed how to do this by now. Same as above, except you select "Paste". Paste
will not be enabled unless you have copied our cut something. Use the "Ctrl" & "V" keys to paste
with your keyboard.
Keep in mind that when you copy or cut text, it is stored in your computer memory in some
invisible place Windows calls the Clipboard. If you restart or shut down your computer
before you paste the text from the Clipboard to it final destination, it will be lost.
You can paste text from one location to another in the same document, and you can paste
to a different application altogether. Hey! Why don't you copy this page, and save it
Windows Notepad, or another text editor. See my tutorial on Text
Editors.
