Mastering how to cut and paste text will save you time, whether you're working with a computer or just using it as you normally would at home. The term "cut and paste" comes from the abandoned manuscript editing activity, namely cutting paragraphs from written pages and pasting them to other pages. The digital version works like that, but won't hurt your hands. Follow this guide to cut and paste with the most popular techniques.
Step
Part 1 of 4: Choosing What You Want to Cut
Step 1. Select the text
Text is one of the most frequently cut and pasted object types, and is the cornerstone of other document editing and word processing tasks. You can click and drag to select a specific piece of text. or press Ctrl+A (PC) or Cmd+A (Mac) to select all of the text on a document or page.
You can only cut text from documents that you can edit. This means that you can't cut text from web pages or PDF files, because you can't remove text from the original file
Step 2. Select the file on your computer
If you want to cut a file on your computer to move it, click on the file to select it. You can click and drag the selection box around multiple files to select the entire file.
- Hold down Ctrl (⌘ Cmd) and click a separate file to select a non-contiguous file.
- To select multiple files, click the first file, then hold down Shift and select the last file. All files among your selections will be selected.
- You cannot cut files from a read-only location, such as a CD/DVD or protected drive.
Part 2 of 4: Using Keyboard Shortcuts
Step 1. Press the shortcut to cut
This will delete the original file or text when you paste it into the new location. You can only cut one selection at a time; if you copy anything else before pasting, the first copy will be overwritten. The shortcuts to bypass in each operating system are as follows:
- Windows and Linux: Ctrl+X
- Mac OS X: Command+X
Step 2. Browse to the location where you will paste
If you are going to paste text, place the cursor where the text will be pasted. If you pasted the file, open the paste location of the file. Make sure your target window has focus.
Step 3. Press the shortcut to paste
This operation will paste all the things you cut earlier to your current location. You can stick material that you have cut many times. The shortcuts for pasting on various operating systems are as follows:
- Windows and Linux: Ctrl+V
- Mac OS X: Command+V
Part 3 of 4: Right Clicking
Step 1. Right click on something you have selected
If you're using a one-button mouse with Mac OS X, press Control and click to open the right-click menu. If you have multiple files selected, right click on any file. If you select a large amount of text, right-click any part of the selected text.
Step 2. Select Cut from the menu
This will cut whatever you choose, and the files you cut will be deleted when you paste them. When you cut the text, the original text will be deleted instantly.
Step 3. Right-click on the pasting location
If you are pasting text, place the cursor where you want to paste the text. If you are pasting the file, go to the location where you want to paste the file.
Step 4. Select Paste from the menu
This will paste the entire object you cut at the cursor location where you right-clicked. You can paste the cut material repeatedly.
Part 4 of 4: Using Menu Options
Step 1. Click the Edit menu
This menu may not be available in all programs, or it may be found under another menu. For example:
- In Google Chrome, you need to click the Customize button which is three horizontal lines, and select Edit.
- In Microsoft Word 2007 and later, the Cut function is on the Home tab. You can find it by looking for the scissors icon in the Clipboard section.
Step 2. Select Cut
The selected text or item will be cropped, and the original item will be deleted when you paste it. When you cut text, the original text will be deleted instantly.
Step 3. Browse to the location where you will paste
If you are going to paste text, place the cursor where the text will be pasted. If you pasted the file, open the paste location of the file. Make sure your target window has focus.
Step 4. Click the Edit menu on your destination window
Select Paste from the menu. The item or text will be pasted to the location of your cursor, or at the bottom of the window.
