All Windows users should be familiar with the Copy, Cut and Paste functions; even for a first-time Windows user, it will not take much time or effort to understand their usage.

Windows make it very simple to move and copy data by using the cut, copy and paste functions. Whether it is working with a word processing program like Word, sending an email, or organizing the documents on the computer, knowing how to quickly copy and paste can simplify the task. All three of these basic functions make use of a Windows feature called the Clipboard, which serves as a temporary storage area.

The Windows Clipboard can be thought of as a virtual drawer beneath the Windows Desktop. Every time data is cut or copied, it is stored in the clipboard. Each time new data is added to the clipboard, the data previously held by the clipboard is erased and replaced with the new data, which will stay there until it is overwritten by another copy or cut command. The contents of the clipboard will also be cleared if the computer is shut down or restarted. The paste function will replicate the contents of the clipboard wherever the user chooses, while still retaining the data in the clipboard. This data can be pasted again and again, as many times as required.

Here is a simple illustration of the cut, copy and paste functions. Open a Word document or a new email to paste into, so you can toggle between that window and this one. Choose any of the methods detailed below to copy the following text and paste to the word/email document:

[Jack swallowed his drink without tasting it, thinking of the elderly woman’s outburst that morning. “Why,” he thought, “All the work they’ve done, just to throw it all away?” It was nearly noon now, and he’d need to find something to bring back to Bartlett before a certain someone started asking questions.]

To highlight text, place the cursor at the beginning of the desired text, left click and drag the mouse till the end of the content that needs to be selected is reached. To carry out the same procedure with the keyboard, hold down the Shift key and use the arrow keys to highlight the desired text.

Double-clicking any word will highlight that specific word, while triple-clicking will highlight the entire paragraph. For example, to select the sample paragraph above, all that needs to be done is a triple-click of any of the words in it. Once it is highlighted, the selection can be copied by right-clicking and selecting Copy from the menu or by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + C. Similarly, to cut the selected text, Cut can be chosen from the menu that appears as a result of a right click or the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl + X or Shift + Delete can be used.

Once the desired text has been copied/cut, go to the email or Word document you have opened, and paste – this can be done either by right-clicking and selecting Paste from the menu, or by pressing Ctrl-V or Shift + Insert. If you have used the Copy function, the desired text would have been copied to the new location and the source text would remain in the original location. The Cut function would have moved the desired text to the new location. Try pasting again and you’ll have duplicate copies of the paragraph.