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A quick visual reference guide for working with Windows 10. The learner could use it on the the computer, download it to a tablet or smartphone, or print it out.

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How to Copy, Cut, and Paste for Beginners

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How to Copy, Cut, and Paste for Beginners

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Although the screen capture will demonstrate the methods detailed in the webpage, the webpage is a good static resource that learners can look at as they work through the planned interaction exercises. It also covers using the mouse and cursor to manipulate files and folders as well as using keyboard shortcuts. It's a good reference document to refer to during the lesson.

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It's such a simple operation, you'd think everyone already knows how to copy, cut, and paste. But my father has asked me how to do this several times, and chances are you probably get asked simple questions like this all the time.

To help you in your tech support role and new computer users young and old learn the basics, we'll be offering (easy-to-email) instructions each week on simple tech concepts. Today: how to copy, cut, and paste. (This one's for you, Dad!)

First, another FAQ: What's the difference between copying and cutting?

You can think of it like an actual piece of paper, for example a letter. When you photocopy the letter, it creates a duplicate and the original stays intact. Cutting a block of text out of the letter, on the other hand, removes that portion from the letter.

On your computer, when you copy a file, image, text or other item, it creates a duplicate of that item in your computer's temporary memory.

Cutting an item will remove it from the page or folder and hold it in memory, as above.

You can almost always copy (duplicate) something, like a phrase on a web page, but cutting is only possible if you have editing or administrative control of the item. For example, you can't cut phrases out of web pages you visit in your browser (imagine what the web would look like if everyone could!). There are exceptions, like editable websites like Wikipedia, but that's because you have editing control on that site.

Once you've copied or pasted something into memory, you can then paste it into another document, file, or folder. Here's how.

Highlight or Select What You Want to Copy or Cut

First, select the item you want to copy or cut:

If it's a file in a folder that you want to copy (to duplicate) or cut (to move) into another folder, click on the file to select it. To select multiple files at once, hold down the Control (CTRL) key (on Windows) or the Command key (on older Macs, it's the Apple logo; on newer Macs, it's this curly-do: ⌘) while clicking the other files.

For images, right-click on the image, then click on "Copy" or "Copy Image" depending on the application.

If you want to copy some text, highlight it by clicking just before the first letter you want to copy, hold down the mouse button while dragging your mouse to the right, and then releasing after you have selected your text.

Tip: In some applications, like Thunderbird, you can select all the text and images by right-clicking and choosing "Select All".

Copying/Cutting and Pasting: The Point-and-Click Method

Next, in many applications, you'll see at the top of the application window, "Edit" right next to "File". Click Edit to reveal the drop down menu and select Copy or Cut, depending on what you want to do and if cutting is an option.

Note: Depending on your operating system and the application you might not have that Edit menu. It's there on Microsoft Word 2011 for Mac, for example, but not on Microsoft Word 2007 and up for Windows. Starting with Office 2003, the classic menu has been replaced with a ribbon bar, so in those programs, you'll see instead icons to click on for cutting (scissors), copying (two documents), and pasting (clipboard) instead. (You can get back the classic menu in Office 2007 with an add-in, if you like.)

Windows only: We love Office 2007's ribbon for its impressive keyboard shortcut integration,...
Read more Read

Okay, now that we've selected the item and copied/cut it into memory, we can paste it somewhere else. In your new document or folder, go back to Edit and select Paste. Alternately, if you don't have that Edit menu (e.g., in Windows Explorer), right-click in the document or folder and select Paste.

A Faster Method: Keyboard Shortcuts

Copying, cutting and pasting with your mouse is pretty straightforward, but using keyboard shortcuts can save you a lot of time.

Select your items to copy or cut as above. To select all items on a page or folder, you can use the CTRL+A or Command + A shortcut: hold down the CTRL button (on Windows) or Command key (on Mac) then hit the A key.

Then hit these keys together to copy, cut, and paste them:

Windows: Hold down the CTRL key then click

Mac: Hold down the Command key (⌘). Then, as with Windows, click:

The Drag-and-Drop Method

You can also use your mouse to quickly drag and drop your selected text, image or file from one application to another. For example, you can have two Windows Explorer windows open side by side and drag a file from one to the other to copy it over.

1. Select the item as in the first step.

2. Press and hold down your mouse button to "grab" it.

3. Then move your mouse to the other window and release the button.

Note: Pay attention to the icon or prompt when you hover your mouse over the new window/location: it should tell you whether the item will be copied (duplicated) or cut (moved). When dragging and dropping text, from one Word document to another, for example, this will copy the text over. When dragging and dropping files in WIndows Explorer or Mac's Finder, this will move the file.

Once you get the hang of dragging and dropping or hitting CTRL + C, CTRL + X, and CTRL + V (or the Command counterparts), you'll be copying, cutting, and pasting like a pro.

Emailable Tech Support is a tri-weekly series of easy-to-share guides for the less tech savvy people in your life. Got a beginner tech support question you constantly answer? Let us know at tips@lifehacker.com. Remember, when you're just starting out computing, there's very little that's too basic to learn.

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How to Copy, Cut, and Paste for Beginners

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It's such a simple operation, you'd think everyone already knows how to copy, cut, and paste. But my father has asked me how to do this several times, and chances are you probably get asked simple questions like this all the time.

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Probing Question: What Does "Computer Literacy" Mean These Days?

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Probing Question: What Does "Computer Literacy" Mean These Days?

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This is an important framing mechanism for the lesson. Since we're working with very basic computer literacy (essentially how to go in and work with Windows 10 in a bare bones sense), it's important that students realize that this is the point of origin for their training, and that true computer literacy is a larger goal of the lesson.

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Remember when watches had springs you would wind? When mail meant letters delivered by a mailman, and the only kind of files came in manila folders? If so, you're a dying breed. By the mid-1980s, American life had been radically transformed by the computer chip. These days, digital technology governs everything from our alarm clocks and coffeemakers to our cars, books, and newspapers-not to mention the way we work and play on personal computers of all shapes and sizes. Given how thoroughly we're steeped in today's wireless web-connected world, how has the meaning of computer literacy changed?

"The term began largely as a way to signify operating a computer, as in how to use it in a functional way," said Stuart Selber, a Penn State associate professor of English, and Science, Technology and Society. "If you could print or save or back up work, comprehend terms like megabyte or megahertz, and navigate a file structure, then you were considered to be computer literate."

Today that outdated definition "only gets us so far," said Selber. "Simply understanding how computers work in functional terms will not lead to the type of informed practice educators are interested in and democracies need."

Librarians were among the first to expand the term in important ways and change it to "information literacy," he added. "There's so much coming at us all the time and librarians rightly worry about the ability of students, teachers and researchers to evaluate all of the information that's out there, especially when it's distributed through nontraditional channels like blogs and wikis."

One of the main challenges for academia, Selber said, is shifting the locus of computer education. "I would argue that all fields need to take responsibility for computer literacy. It's not just a technical subject: it permeates all disciplines and tasks in significant ways and is necessarily an interdisciplinary endeavor."

English departments have a special vantage point on computer literacy, he said.

"We think a lot about how texts work, and the challenges of meaning-making and interpretation. So when we see a computer in front of us, we think of it as a literacy device rather than a computation machine or research tool. That is an important metaphor for the 21st century."

How can colleges best prepare students for digital careers and lifestyles?

"I've been imagining a three-part role for computer literacy," Selber said, "with students acknowledged as users of technology, questioners of technology and producers of technology. Students are all of these things and need to be able to shift back and forth between the different roles. Ideally, a new approach to computer literacy would draw on the humanities as well as technical fields and would recognize that computers are social all the way down, from their designs to the ways they structure work and activity. Such a robust approach would serve students well as both citizens and workers."

But if you think becoming computer literate is a fast-track to economic security, think again, said Selber.

"Despite our hopes and dreams, computers do not level the socioeconomic playing field or solve educational problems all on their own. In fact, illiteracy rates don't look all that different than they did before computers. In certain areas, computers aid productivity and enable new forms of work and play, but they can also create new problems and exacerbate old ones."

For instance, computers can "de-skill" workers, said Selber. "Cashiers working on computerized cash registers don't need to know how to count change."

One wonders what our watch-winding, letter-writing, phone-dialing forebears would make of that.
Stuart Selber, Ph.D., is an associate professor of English and Science, Technology, and Society (STS) and an affiliate associate professor of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) at Penn State. He directs the Composition Program and works as a Faculty Fellow in Education Technology Services. He can be reached at sas37@psu.edu.

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Probing Question: What does computer literacy mean these days? | Penn State University

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Remember when watches had springs you would wind? When mail meant letters delivered by a mailman, and the only kind of files came in manila folders? If so, you're a dying breed. By the mid-1980s, American life had been radically transformed by the computer chip.

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The Advantages of Being Computer Literate in the Workforce

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The Advantages of Being Computer Literate in the Workforce

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This article addresses the "why?" need common to get adult learners to invest in an androgogy-centered model of instruction. The article covers a little of the "what" that defines computer literacy, but really addresses the "why," hopefully giving learners a reason to invest in the computer literacy lesson.

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The Advantages of Being Computer Literate in the Workforce

Some level of computer literacy is required in just about every job on the market today. Although employers expect prospective hires to have a basic knowledge of standard office software programs and internet capabilities, they prefer to see a higher level of competency beyond the basics. As a business owner, when you hire employees, you need to evaluate the level of computer literacy you need to get the job done, and the advantages associated with various skills.

Reduces Training Costs

As an employer, you need to consider the costs of onboarding an employee, such as those associated with the time and resources to train employees on required computer programs, processes and resources. If a prospect is already well-versed in the necessary programs for the job, the costs to train new hires drops, as well.

Of course, there may be certain proprietary programs that are company-specific. Although you might not be able to avoid training employees on these programs, the training becomes much more effective if that employee has a solid background in computer programs, since many programs have similarly functioning platforms. When a new hire is learning everything from the most basic skills to proprietary software, it takes longer to learn and can become frustrating for employees and employers alike.

New Employees Start Strong

Usually, you hire someone to fill a need. Ideally, the sooner than gap is filled, the faster your company or department can get back on track. When an employee comes in ready with the required computer literacy skills, she can sit down and get to work. The time required to ramp up and get started is dramatically reduced.

For example, assume you lost your internal bookkeeper, who uses Xero software for Mac. Chances are that you are hiring an experienced bookkeeper, but if that person has only worked solely on Quickbooks for Windows, she will require additional time to learn the new program, which might be on an operating system that's new to her. If a candidate who has the same level of bookkeeping experience walked through the door, and also has experience on Xero, the bookkeeping functions in your office would be up and running faster with the candidate who has Xero experience than with the candidate who has Quickbooks experience.

Productivity and Efficiency

Employees that are computer literate are generally more efficient workers, thus are more productive. There are times a person might need to know a trick he learned years ago; he might not need that trick every day but when he does it can save a lot of headaches and frustration. For example, most executive assistants are well-versed in most office suite programs such as Microsoft Office. This means that he knows more than the basics of Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Assume you have been invited to speak to a local chamber of commerce about your company, and you ask your assistant to put together a PowerPoint presentation with text that slides in, while you are speaking. Being well-versed in software, he can probably figure out the process but being well-versed in the program itself might save him two to three hours of trial-and-error fiddling around, searching online for help or relying on help from colleagues or friends.

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The Advantages of Being Computer Literate in the Workforce

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Some level of computer literacy is required in just about every job on the market today. Although employers expect prospective hires to have a basic knowledge of standard office software programs and internet capabilities, they prefer to see a higher level of competency beyond the basics.

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Using Your Windows 10 PC if You've Never Used a Computer Before

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Using Your Windows 10 PC if You've Never Used a Computer Before

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We do see students with very low entry-level skills. Considering that many students use labs--with the PCs already booted and running Windows--this guide is something good to have the student use in that lab environment before going home to their own machine. Again, few may ever use this, but given that the lesson is designed for low-level users, I wanted to start at the most basic of skills: powering the machine up

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My...-Full-Color, Step-by-Step Guides The "My..." series is a visually rich, task-based series to help you get up and running with your new device and technology and tap into some of the hidden, or less obvious features. This series also includes "For Seniors" guides, a collection of how-to guide books from AARP and Que that respect your smarts without assuming you are a techie.