3. Moving and Copying Text

There are several ways to move and copy text in a Word document.

Drag and Drop

· Select the text to be moved

· Click on the selected text and hold down the mouse button

· Drag the text to the new location

· Release the mouse button

Word indicates that it is moving text with a small rectangle that represents the selected text below the arrow.

Cut, Copy, and Paste

To move or copy a large amount of text or to copy text from one document or one program to another, cut and paste (or copy and paste) is the best method.

Cutting and pasting or copying and pasting always consists of two separate steps.

· Cutting and pasting (i.e. moving text) removes the text from its original location and puts it in a new location specified by you

· Copying and pasting leaves the original text in its location and puts an exact copy of it in a new location specified by you

Most people refer to either of these tasks as “copying and pasting.”

Cutting, copying, and pasting can be performed using Ribbon commands or keystroke combinations.

Using the Ribbon commands in the Clipboard group on the Home tab to cut and paste text:

· Select the text to be moved

· Click on the Cut icon (scissors)

· The selected text disappears from its former position and is stored in

· a virtual location called the clipboard; once the text is stored to the

· clipboard, it can be placed in a new location in the same document

· or in a different document by using the paste command

· To paste the text that has been cut, click the Paste command


The text can be copied instead of cut by using the Copy command during Step 2, which looks like two pieces of paper stacked on top of one another. Keystroke combinations on the keyboard can also be used to cut, copy, and paste:

· Ctrl + X = cut

· Ctrl + C = copy

· Ctrl + V = paste

Undo Button

On the Quick Access toolbar, which appears just above the ribbon tabs, is an icon with a blue arrow pointing to the left is the Undo button. If you do something in your document that you want to undo, go to the Quick Access toolbar and click on the Undo button; the program reverses the most recent command. Keep clicking the Undo button, and Word reverses your actions step by step. The keyboard shortcut for undo is Ctrl +