Computers cannot turn water into wine. At heart, they are
simple creatures - copying and pasting are among the things they
do best. The cleverness of Windows lies in its ability to
let you copy and paste between (guess what) windows -
i.e. between different programs or documents. For example,
a real-life question:
Q. "How do I convert an email into a Word document?"
A. "You don't. You keep your email and a blank Word document
open, select and copy the text of the email and paste it into
the Word document."
It's as simple as X,C,V
Learn these keyboard commands and use them - it's much quicker than
using toolbars, menus and the mouse. You have to select something
first - if it's a picture or file, click on it, if it's text, select
the text you need with the cursor (or better still by using Ctrl+Shift+L/R
arrows).
Ctrl X = cut
Ctrl C = copy
Ctrl V = paste
Don't bother wondering why "V" stands for "paste". The
point is, it's next to C on the keyboard, and since most copying
operations are followed by a paste operation, that makes pretty
good sense. If it really bothers you, read a posting
to alt.folkore.computers called Why
Ctrl-V for paste?
SAFETY FIRST
There is a difference between cut and delete.
Delete - using the delete key, chucks away whatever you
deleted.
Cut - removes the object from the document or open
window, but puts it on a "clipboard", ready for you to paste it
back somewhere (shift+delete does the same thing). There is only
room for ONE cut item on the clipboard - in other words, whatever
you cut last will be the thing you get back.
Particularly If you are working with large blocks of text or
objects, it is wise to use COPY + PASTE rather than
cut and paste. Copy the thing you want to cut, paste it wherever
you want it, then go back and delete the unwanted original.
You have to be pretty sober and confident to cut 3,000 words and
know that you will not under any circumstances press cut again
before you paste.
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