How to Copy-Paste Using Keyboard Shortcuts

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This article was co-written by Gonzalo Martinez. Gonzalo Martinez is the president of CleverTech, a tech repair business he founded five years ago. CleverTech LLC specializes in repairing Apple devices such as iPhone, iPad, Macbook & iMac. A leading company in environmental responsibility, they recycle aluminum, display devices and even the smallest details on motherboards to use for repairs. On average, they take advantage of about 1-1.5kg of e-waste at each repair shop.

There are 11 references cited in this article that you can view at the bottom of the page.

This article has been viewed 297,912 times.

When you hear copy-and-paste, you might think of manual-class collage, but copying and pasting on a computer or mobile device is different. Using keyboard shortcuts to copy data and paste elsewhere saves you time, and it helps if you know how to take advantage of your device’s features. There are a number of keyboard shortcuts you can use to quickly copy and paste data to a new location to get the most out of your computer or phone.

Table of Contents

On Windows and Linux

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Select the data to copy. You’ll use your mouse to highlight words, text, or images. Place the cursor over the data, left click and drag the mouse over the data to be copied. When you see data in blue or black, it means the data is highlighted. ^{[1] X Research Source}

You can also place the cursor at a line of text and press the Shift key, and then use the arrow keys to select each letter.
Copy is an operation that copies data to the clipboard, but leaves the original text intact.
Cut is an operation that copies data to the clipboard and deletes the original text.

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Press Ctrl + C on the keyboard. The Ctrl key is located to the left or right of the spacebar (most keyboards have 2 Ctrl keys). You just need to press the keyboard shortcut to copy the data. The computer won’t tell you the data has been copied, but will still save the information to the clipboard. ^{[2] X Research Source}

The clipboard always works in the background to hold copied information until you paste it or copy new information.

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Find the place where you want to paste the data. It could be a Word program, Excel, Google Doc, or a website. Open the program on your computer and place the cursor where you want to place the copied data. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

If you want to copy and paste a file or folder, just open File Explorer to go where you need to go.

On Mac

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Highlight text or images. You just need to place the mouse pointer over the text or image you want to copy. Left click, then drag over the image or text. The data is highlighted when you see the image or text change color. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

If you want to copy a file or folder, select the file or folder to copy by clicking once on it.

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Press ⌘ Cmd + C on the keyboard. At the last line of the keyboard, you will see the ⌘ Cmd key which stands for “Command”. Press this key and the “C” key at the same time to copy text or an image. ^{[6] X Research Sources}

The computer won’t tell you the data has been copied, but surely if you press these keys at the same time, the data will be copied!
Copy is an operation that copies data to the clipboard, but leaves the original text intact.
Cut is an operation that copies data to the clipboard and deletes the original text.

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Find the place where you want to paste the data. It could be the Pages program, Numbers, or the website. Place the cursor where you want to paste the data. ^{[7] X Research Sources}

Pages and Number is the Mac version of Word and Excel.

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Press ⌘ Cmd + V on the keyboard. Similar to the previous operation, you will press these 2 keys at the same time. The shortcut ⌘ Cmd + V has a paste function, so you will see what is displayed on the screen! ^{[8] X Research Sources}

You can paste the data as many times as you like, or copy other data.

On mobile devices

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Touch and hold the content. Find the piece of content you want to copy, and then place your finger on it. Touch and hold the content until you see the options displayed. ^{[9] X Research Source}

You can drag the highlight button back and forth to select other areas of the text.
If you want to highlight content in a text or message, be careful not to press other keys! You may accidentally replace all highlighted data with new content.

Troubleshooting in some specific cases

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Highlight and paste math or caret symbols into new text. If you need to add a formula or a character with a caret, you can use keyboard shortcuts to copy and paste into the text. Find the content you want to highlight, copy it, and then paste it in a new location. ^{[14] X Trusted Source Microsoft Support Go to Source}

You can find special characters by searching on Google.

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Copy and paste emojis on your computer screen. You can highlight and copy emojis on your phone by performing the usual tap and hold. However, if you use a computer, you can use the search engine to find the emoji you need, and then copy it to your computer. From there, you’ll add emojis to the new input box. ^{[15] X Research Source}

Some apps, like email, don’t support emojis.

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Copy and paste data between applications. Even when you switch from the Word program to the web page or from Pages to the Notes app, you can still use keyboard shortcuts. Otherwise, just right-click, then select “Copy” or “Paste”. ^{[16] X Research Source}

Some sites have copy and paste blocking tools so you can’t “steal” their information. Scientific articles and paid articles based on views will not allow you to copy the content or images displayed on the screen.

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Restart your computer if your action doesn’t work. Sometimes, you may not be able to copy and paste content on your computer with keyboard shortcuts. To work around this issue, you should try shutting down your computer and restarting it. ^{[17] X Research Source}

If this doesn’t work, you need to restart the keyboard on your computer or update the keyboard driver.

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Use Ctrl + Z to remove the error operation. Don’t worry if you’ve highlighted a line and accidentally deleted it! On Windows or Linux, just press Ctrl + Z . On Mac, this is done with the keyboard shortcut ⌘ Cmd + Z . Here’s how to clear the error and try again. ^{[18] X Research Sources}

Just remember to remove the error immediately!

Advice

If you accidentally highlight something that doesn’t need to be copied, click once or tap the screen to un-highlight.

Steps

On Windows and Linux

On Mac

On mobile devices

Troubleshooting in some specific cases

Advice

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