While copy and paste should be an easy thing to do on any computer, if you just switched from Windows to Mac, you might be confused on how to carry out this copy and paste task easily. Here’s how to copy and paste files and text on Mac.
1. Using the Menu Box
To copy and paste on your Mac:
1. Highlight the item to be copied by holding down the left mouse key. Ensure that the highlighted section shows a colored box.
2. Right-click the selected file or textm and choose the “Copy” or “Cut” command.
3. Move to the location for pasting the copied item.
4. Right-click the chosen location and select the “Paste” option.
2. Using the Command Key
1. Highlight the item to be copied by holding down the left mouse. Ensure that the highlighted section shows a colored box.
2. Use Mac keyboard shortcuts such as Command + C (Copy) or Command + X (Cut).
3. Move to the location for pasting the copied item.
4. Use keyboard shortcut Command + V to paste the item.
3. Using the Option Key to Copy
This method of copying is less known but quicker than the two mentioned above.
1. Place your mouse cursor on the item you want to copy.
2. Hold down the Option key as well as the right button of your mouse.
3. This should automatically create a duplicate.
4. Hold Down Command and Drag to Cut
The Command + X (Cut) method does not work for files, but there is a way around this:
1. Place your mouse cursor on the item you want to copy.
2. Hold down the Command key as well as the right button of your mouse and drag the file.
3. You should see that the “plus” icon on the file has disappeared. This means the file is is being cut and not copied.
How to Copy and Paste Files/Folders and Images
Mac’s Finder tool makes it easy to copy files and folders from one location and paste it in another. To do so:
1. Select the file or image you want to copy by placing your mouse arrow on it.
2. Right-click the selected file and choose “Copy” out of the pop-out options or use a keyboard shortcut.
3. The copied file will be placed in your clipboard.
4. Move to the location you want the file pasted using the Finder window.
5. “Paste” the file.
Apart from copying the image itself, another thing a Mac system allows you to do is to copy the image address.
1. Select the image you want to copy by placing your mouse arrow on it.
2. Right-click the selected image and choose “Copy Image Address.”
3. The copied address will be placed in your clipboard.
How to Copy and Paste Across Apple Devices
If you have more than one Apple OS device synced, copying and pasting across the devices should be simple. The Universal Clipboard for Apple products made available when you enable Continuity on Mac makes it possible for you to copy any text or image from an iOS device such as an iPhone and then paste to your Mac. To do so,
1. Select the item you want to copy by placing your mouse arrow on it.
2. Right-click the selected item which should bring out options.
3. Choose “Copy” from the options or make use of a keyboard shortcut to perform this action.
4. The copied item should be available on all your Apple devices, so all you have to do is “Paste” it.
How to Use the Paste and Match Style
What does it mean when you copy text from a document and the pasted version looks funny? It simply means you copied and pasted the formatting of the text as well. A simple way to avoid this is by using a command that makes sure the pasted text match up to the formatting of the new document.
To do this;
1. Access the Menu Box by right-clicking.
2. Select “Paste and match style.”
There is also a keyboard shortcut, but it varies between apps in use. You can try eisenberg of the shortcuts below:
- Command + Shift + V
- Command + Shift + Alt/Option + V
Conclusion
Knowing how to copy and paste on a Mac and across Apple devices will save you a lot of time. That is, instead of rewriting something which has been done in the past, you can easily transfer with the click of a few buttons.
Do you know more copy-and-paste tricks that we missed? Feel free to comment below.
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