The operations of Cut - Copy - Paste can be used within the same document or project – or it can be used to copy or move information between documents or projects. You will find this application helpful when you are writing an e-mail message and wish to include some information from a previous message that you had received – when you wish to copy only a portion of a web page that contained information that you were interested in – when you wish to place a few paragraphs from one letter into another letter you are writing.

Before we can perform any of these operations, we have to SELECT the information that we wish to CUT - COPY or PASTE. You select the information in various ways and according to the program that you are running. For instance, in Microsoft Word or Notepad (or probably every word processor), you can

Choose EDIT from the top menu

And then choose SELECT ALL

This will select everything in your document and have it available for copying or cutting.

You can also select by placing your cursor at the beginning of what you want to select, then hold down the left mouse button and drag your mouse over the text that you wish selected. You will notice that all of the text will be highlighted.

You can also select by placing your cursor at the beginning of what you want to select, hold down the shift key and then use the arrow keys to highlight the desired text.

In other types of programs (for instance, graphics programs, photo editing programs, spreadsheets), the process will be a little bit different. You will have a select tool, or you click on the desired object, or you highlight the cell or cells to wish to copy or cut.

CUT

Once you have your information selected (or highlighted), then you can CUT the information. You can perform this operation in various ways. (1) Choose EDIT from the top menu – and then choose CUT. (2) In Windows 95, press the right mouse button and then choose CUT. (3) Press ALT-E and then press T if you like to use the keyboard.

This will make the desired selection disappear from your project. Where did this information go – to the clipboard. What is the clipboard – some small corner of your computer’s memory where the information is stored until you decide to overwrite it with some new information.

COPY

Once you have your information selected (or highlighted), then you can COPY the information. You can perform this operation in various ways. (1) Choose EDIT from the top menu – and then choose COPY. (2) In Windows 95, press the right mouse button and then choose COPY. (3) Press ALT-E and then press C if you like to use the keyboard.

This will leave all of the selected information in your document or project, but will also place a copy of it on the clipboard where it will remain until you decide to overwrite it with some new information.

PASTE

Once you have placed something on the clipboard then it is available to be pasted. In your word processor document, place your cursor at the location that you wish to insert the information. This procedure will vary in other types of programs – with graphics, the item usually just appears on your working area and then you position it where you want it to be. The information can be inserted using various methods. (1) Choose EDIT from the top menu – and then choose PASTE. (2) In Windows 95, press the right mouse button and then choose PASTE. (3). If you like to use the keyboard, press ALT-E and then P.

DELETE

What about delete? What does it do? In order to delete a portion of your document or other project you are working on, you must select (or highlight) the information the same as you did for cut and copy. After the information has been selected, then there are various methods to remove the selected information. (1) Choose EDIT from the top menu - and then choose DELETE or CLEAR. (2) If you like to use the keyboard, press the DELETE key. Windows 95 does not seem to have a choice of delete or clear from the right mouse button. Delete or Clear works a little differently than cut or copy. When you delete (or clear) something, it does not go to the clipboard. It is immediately removed. DELETE or CLEAR within a program, does not remove anything from your hard drive – it only removes selected information from your project.

CLIPBOARD VIEWER

For those of you who would like to see where or what this information is that has been sent to the clipboard, you may open up your CLIPBOARD VIEWER. Then every time that you CUT or COPY information, you will see that information appear immediately on the Clipboard Viewer. In Windows 3.1 you will find the clipboard viewer under Accessories. In Windows 95, you should also find it under Accessories. If you do not find it listed in Windows 95, you may obtain it by the following method.

Under MY COMPUTER

Choose CONTROL PANEL

Then choose ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS

Then choose the tab labeled WINDOWS SETUP

Highlight ACCESSORIES (by clicking on it one time)

Then push the DETAILS button

Click in the box next to clipboard viewer to place a check mark there.

Then press OK.

Then press OK.

You should be prompted for your Windows 95 CD.