Copying and pasting data from a mouse might be something you might be incredibly familiar with, especially if that was the way you were taught how to do it or if that’s the only way you remember from the start.
Often we see a computer mouse not functioning; the keys are not pressing properly, or there are some wiring issues. If something like this ever happens to you, you must learn how to copy and paste.
That’s exactly what this guide is about where we show you how to copy and paste without a mouse. Let’s not waste any time and get right into it.
Why should you copy and paste without a mouse?
As we mentioned before, you might be used to copying and pasting from a mouse, but don’t you hate having to pull away all your attention from the keyboard to copy and paste a small word?
Let’s imagine you are working extremely hard on a document that requires a lot of copy and paste, and your mouse stops working.
What will you do in such a situation? You can’t get it fixed because there is no time, and you have to submit this document quickly; that’s where keyboard shortcuts come into play.
It is also said that keyboard shortcuts allow you to be more than productive with your workflow. You can select an entire text in a document by pressing “Ctrl-A,” and these keyboard shortcuts aren’t limited to copying and pasting. Only you can do more with these than you think, like doing print commands and using shortcuts to close windows or add more windows.
Let’s discover and learn new ways to enable you to copy and paste without a mouse.
4 Method to copy and past without a mouse
1. Using a touchpad (laptop)
If you want to have a complete departure from using a mouse, then we suggest utilizing a touchpad on your laptop; here’s how to use it:
1. Make full use of the cursor by moving your fingers across the touchpad and dragging and selecting the text you want to copy.
2. On the touchpad, you’ll find two buttons, left and right, here you want to hold down the left control button after you have selected your text.
3. An options panel will pop up right in front of you, here you will select copy and press the left button under the touchpad.
4. After copying, place the cursor to an area of the screen and document where you wish to paste your selection.
5. Choose the right button under the touchpad and hit paste, and the selection will be posted right in Front of you.
2. Making use of the trackpad in the MacBook
If you own an Apple MacBook device or any generation model, the copy and pasting mechanism will remain almost the same for all of them. It doesn’t matter where you are in the document, you can begin copying at any point.
Here are the steps you will need to follow:
1. What you want to do is drag the pointer to that part of the document you wish to copy, you will press and hold the trackpad, and after you make the selection, you can drag it to your required length which will highlight the text area.
2. A two-finger tap motion on the trackpad will allow you to open the menu, select the option copy, and head over to different applications, allowing you to paste your content.
3. Press “paste” on the keyboard, and the selection will be pasted for you.
3. Keyboard shortcuts (Windows)
With keyboard shortcuts, your functionality will be all related to a keyboard and utilizing arrow keys, shift and Ctrl. Here are the steps you need to follow:
1. By utilizing arrow keys, you can position the cursor to the start or end of the text you want to copy.
2. Press shift on the keyboard while holding the arrow keys to make your text selection.
3. After you have chosen which text you want to copy, you want to release your fingers from the shift key and press the command key along with the C key on your keyboard, allowing you to copy your text.
4. Once again, the arrow keys will help you move to your desired location, and finally, press and hold CTRL and V to paste your selection into a new space.
4. Keyboard shortcuts (iMac & MacBook)
What’s great about these keyboard shortcuts is that not only will they work on your iMac, but they will also work on your MacBook. Here are the steps you will need to follow carefully:
1. Whenever you want to make a current selection of your text, make sure your mouse location is either the endpoint or the starting point of your text, and only then you can press the copy button on your apple devices.
2. Now, you want to press down on the shift key and utilize the arrow keys to select your text.
3. To copy your selection from the keyboard, press the command followed by C, and your text will be automatically copied.
4. Choose an area or location in the document or some other app where you would like the text to be pasted and press the command followed by V.
FAQ
Even though we explained all tricks and tips, many of you may run into some problems while copying and pasting text without a mouse, so let’s answer some of the most frequently asked questions.
Why am I unable to copy and paste through my keyboard?
Sometimes or it may permanently happen to many people that they cannot copy and paste through a keyboard, but why does this happen?
What can be the root cause of this? If this problem persists, try to check by copying and pasting with your mouse; if you are successful, the problem might be with your keyboard. Check to see if your keyboard keys aren’t damaged or if your keyboard is properly turned on/ plugged in.
Where do keyboard shortcuts for copy and paste work?
You’d be surprised to discover that many of these keyboard shortcuts work great on many applications like Adobe Photoshop and Internet Explorer.
Even in Microsoft word, these copy and paste shortcuts aren’t limited to text, though, you can use these shortcuts in files/ folders, too. This can easily allow you to replace file locations and move them to different locations on your desktop or file manager.
How to Cut Content with the Ctrl/Command Key?
Sometimes it may happen that you have accidentally copied the wrong content, or you have copied and pasted the repeated content.
When something like this happens, using your keyboard shortcuts to cut content is best. To cut text from a document, press Ctrl+X, which will be Command + X in Mac. After you cut content using these keys, all the content is saved to your clipboard, and you can paste it wherever you want.
Conclusion
It looks like we have reached the decisive conclusion for this guide, we truly hope we have enabled you to learn how to copy and paste without a mouse. Using a mouse to copy and paste might seem like the best option, but it is incredibly slow compared to the keyboard.
Not only are you distracted from your concentration, but it also isn’t convenient. Once you start using these shortcuts and getting used to touchpads and trackpads, you will never go back from using these methods. That’s it for now; we will catch you in the next informational guide; till then, take care and stay techy.