Copy and paste with the keyboard

Step by step

1. Click the Start button! Look at the bottom of this practice computer: the dark strip there is its taskbar. In the middle of it, click the Start button (four blue squares). The main menu opens just above it. If you see two taskbars, use the one inside this page.
2. Click "Notepad". In the menu that opened, click the "Notepad" tile (a square with a small picture and its name under it): the app opens in its own window.
3. Type a sentence. Click in the white page of Notepad and type a sentence with the keyboard, for example "I can copy and paste". We will copy it in the next steps.
4. Select all: Ctrl + A. Hold down the Ctrl key (at the bottom left of the keyboard) and, while holding it, press the letter A once: all the text turns blue. That means it is selected.
5. Copy: Ctrl + C. Hold down Ctrl again and press the letter C once: the selected text is copied into the computer's memory. Nothing changes on the screen, and that is normal.
6. Go to the end of the text. Press the End key (on the right of the keyboard, above the arrow keys), or the → arrow key: the blue color disappears and the cursor (the blinking line) goes to the end of your text.
7. Paste: Ctrl + V. Hold down Ctrl and press the letter V once: the copied sentence appears a second time, right after the first one.
8. Close this window. You are done with this window, so close it: click the ✕ button at the top right corner of the "Notepad" window (on its title bar, the strip at the top). The window disappears.

These steps are written for SafePC, a pretend Windows-style computer in your web browser. On your own computer, the buttons and menus may look a little different, but the idea is the same.

More lessons in The keyboard

• Capital letters
• Symbols and numbers
• Type an email address
• Undo a mistake: Ctrl + Z