It’s happened to all of us; There’s a gift card code you want to use to purchase something online or you have to get an important string of letters to your web host right away. The numbers may look something like this:

AHf639kC48fskli39gFKsl4ir54870

Typing out text strings is not only time consuming, it also leaves a lot of room for errors. This creates frustration and only increases the time it takes to complete a task. You are not gaining any points by typing things out manually, so why put yourself through that? I’m sure you’ve heard people mention that there is an easier way to get the information you want placed where you need it, and you’ve even probably heard of it before. In this article I will teach you how to copy and paste for any type of device.

Copy and Paste is just a function that your computer can perform when you command it to . Once you know how to copy and paste, it will make your life much easier.

For those of you who are already familiar with Copy and Paste on your computer, you might not be aware that you can also use Copy and Paste on your Tablet and Smart Phone too.

What I’m going to teach you below are the different commands that work for different devices. Now you can learn how to Copy and Paste like a millennial.

How To Copy and Paste

Learn the most popular and simple ways to copy and paste using your computer, whether you use a Windows or a MAC, this How To is for you.

Instructions

To Copy Paste using your keyboard

Using your MAC Keyboard

Photo by STIL on Unsplash

To Copy:

Click and drag your mouse across the area you want to copy. This will highlight the text you want to copy and paste
Using your keyboard, Hold down the Command button and then Hold Down the C button at the same time.

To Paste:

Using your mouse Click into the place you want to put your copied text
Using your keyboard Hold down the Command button and then Hold Down the V button at the same time.
if at first you don't succeed, try try again!

Using your Windows Keyboard

Photo by Olena Sergienko on Unsplash

To Copy:

Click and drag your mouse to highlight the text you want to copy and paste
Using your keyboard, Hold down the Ctrl button and then Hold Down the C button at the same time.

To Paste:

Using your mouse Click into the place you want to put your copied text
Using your keyboard Hold down the Ctrl button and then Hold Down the V button at the same time.
if at first you don't succeed, try try again!

Copy and Paste with your mouse

Copying and Pasting with your Mouse is another great way to get the text you want placed where you want it.

Photo by Nathan Lemon on Unsplash

To Copy:

Hold down the Left Mouse Button and drag the mouse over the text you want to select. This will highlight the text
Click the Right Button on the mouse and options will pop up for you,
Select Copy from the list

To Paste

Go to the place you want to put your text selection
Click the Right Button on your mouse and options will pop up for you
Select Paste from the options

How to Copy and Paste On a Smart Phone or Tablet

Here is an extremely useful video from TechBoomers

via GIPHY

How To Copy

>Hold your finger or thumb on a word you want to start copying. Keep holding until you see the text highlight in light blue and you see the options pop up for “Copy”, “Select All”, “etc”.

>If you want to select everything on the screen you can press Select All

>To select a part of the screen like a sentence or phrase, you can use the blue dots to either side of the blue highlighted text. Then move either or both dots to highlight all of the letters you want to copy.

via GIPHY

How to Paste

>Go to the place you need to put your copied text. It may be a Text Field like in a form, or it may be in the body of an email.

>Hold your finger or thumb down on the area you want to place your text until you see the Paste option pop up.

>Select “Paste” and you will see your text has been pasted exactly where you needed it!

>If at first you don’t succeed, try try again!