TOPIC 7:  COPYING and PASTING

These directions are specific to Microsoft Word '(versions '97. 2000, 2002 [XP], 2003, or 2007).  You can do the same functions using other word processing programs but you may need to consult the help menu.  To begin, check to see if the Microsoft Word standard tool bar and formatting tool bar are present.  (These were discussed in Topic 6:  Creating, Saving, and Opening Documents).  If they are not present on the screen or if you are not sure, click on "View" in the Menu Bar.  Move the mouse pointer down to "Toolbars" in the drop-down menu and pause.  A submenu appears to the right showing the names of all the Word Toolbars.  All active toolbars appear with a checkmark to the left of the toolbar name.  If no checkmark appears, click the name of the toolbar you want and it will appear on the screen.  For example: If there is no checkmark in front of the word Standard, then click on “Standard” to activate the Standard Toolbar; click on “Formatting” to activate the Formatting Toolbar.

Undo Command

While working in Word, you may accidentally click the wrong thing and your text may disappear or be formatted differently than what you wanted.  You can reverse or undo any action that you perform by using the Undo Command.  The Undo Button is located in the middle of Standard Toolbar and appears as an arrow curving to the left.  If you point to this button and pause, a screen tip will verify its purpose.  Clicking this button reverses the last action taken.  This command is also found at the top of the Edit Menu and can be activated by clicking on "Edit" in the Menu Bar and then on "Undo" in the drop-down menu.

Copy and Paste Commands

Copying and pasting text is done in 3 steps:  1) select the text you want to copy; 2) activate the copy command; and 3) paste it into the location of your choosing.  There are several methods for doing these 3 steps; use the one that you like to the best.

1.         Methods for selecting the text to be copied:

            a.     Move the mouse pointer to the first character of the text to be copied.  Hold down on the left mouse button and drag the mouse pointer over the text or object you want copied.  The text will turn blue or appear as white letters with a black background.  Release the mouse button when you have highlighted everything you want copied or

            b.     Move the mouse pointer just before the first character of the text to be copied and click the left mouse button to place the insertion point (the insertion point appears as a blinking vertical bar | ) in that spot.  Without holding the left or right mouse buttons down, move the mouse pointer so that it points just after the last character to be selected.  (You may have to scroll down to find the last character.) Hold down on a Shift key and then click the left mouse button while pointing just after the last character.  The text between the first click and the Shift-click will be selected.  This method is good for long sections of text or

            c.    To select an entire document’s text hold down on a Ctrl key and tap the letter A on the keyboard.  Another option to do this is to click on "Edit"  in the Menu Bar and click on "Select All" in the drop-down menu.

2.         Methods for copying text to the computer's memory called the Clipboard:

            a.     Hold down on a Ctrl key and tap the letter C key on the keyboard or

            b.     Point to the selected text with the mouse pointer and right click. Click on “Copy” in the short-cut menu that appears or

            c.     Click the Copy button in the Standard Toolbar (it is the overlapping pages to the right of the button with the scissors).  If you pause before clicking, the screen tip will verify that it is the Copy button or

            d.     Click "Edit" in the Menu Bar and then click "Copy" in the drop-down menu.

3.         Methods for pasting your text into the desired location.  Before giving the Paste command place the insertion point in the location where you want the copied text to appear.  This may require your opening another document and/or scrolling, and then clicking to place the insertion point.

            a.     Hold down on a Ctrl key and tap the letter V key on your keyboard or

            b.     Point to the location where the text is to be placed and right click.  Click on “Paste” in the short-cut menu that appears or

            c.     Click the Paste button in the Standard Toolbar (it is to the right of the Copy button and looks like a clipboard).  If you pause before clicking, the screen tip will verify that it is the Paste button or

            d.     Click "Edit" in the Menu Bar and then click "Paste" in the drop-down menu.

Save Command

Save the text you have just pasted.  You can do this by clicking on the Save diskette on the tool bar near the top of the page or holding down the Ctrl key and tap the letter S.

Note.   The keys pressed along with the Ctrl key (c, v, a, and s) in the above paragraphs and the following paragraphs are capitalized for emphasis and do not have to be capitalized for the function to work.

Using the Copy and Paste Commands with URLs

You can use the copy and paste process to correctly copy URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) from the address bar of your Internet browser (Internet Explorer or Firefox or Netscape Navigator) to a Word Document.  A URL is the address of where a document is located on the Internet.  It contains information about the server that hosts/stores the Internet document and the name of the web page document containing the information.  URLs are displayed in a narrow box labeled “Address” at the top of your Internet browser window and look something like this à http://www.yahoo.com.  Some URLs are long and, therefore, easy to mistype.  If you are doing research on the Internet, you may want to copy and paste the URL of sites with useful research material.  That way you won’t forget where you found the information and will be able to get back to that site, if you need to.

To begin, open your word processing program and start a new document.  Now get into your Internet browser without exiting Word. (Multitasking is where more than one program can be open at the same time.)  You can then copy and paste the URLs as you go and make notes right underneath the copied URL.  In your browser, search for a site with useful information.  When you find such a site, select/click the URL (the whole URL should be highlighted in blue) and activate the copy command in one of the ways described above.  (If there are no copy commands available use the Ctrl key and the letter C.)  Switch to the Word document using the Task Bar at the bottom of the screen.  (Click on the reference to Microsoft Word.)  Put the insertion point where you want the URL to be placed in the document, and activate the paste command.  Your copied URL should appear on the document page.  If you save the document in Rich Text Format (*.rtf), the links are active.  This means that you can click on the URL in your word document to go back to the site.

One way for you to keep your writings and the text you copy straight is to use one font color for your writings and a different font color for the material you copy.  Please remember that copying and pasting text or web information into a paper you put your name on, without using proper acknowledgment, is plagiarism and is not acceptable.

End of Topic 7.

Continue to Topic 8

Orientation Overview

Topic 6:  Creating, Saving, and Opening Documents             Topic 8:  Learning About WebCT

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Revised August 2011