Introduction

One of the most universally ignored features of Windows, whichever the flavor you're talking about, is the clipboard. Many of us use Windows based applications for years without realizing the impact that using the clipboard can have on the way we work. Yes, it may seem a bit awkward at first, but after a few weeks, you'll wonder how you ever got along without it.

The purpose of this lesson is to acquaint you (or re-acquaint you, as the case may be) with using the clipboard and it's associated operation, pasting. Estimated time to complete the lesson is 10-30 minutes, and there's nothing to turn in. Cool!! Of course, you don't get any credit for it, but what do you expect for nothing? Your increased skills with Windows multitasking and using the clipboard will be your reward. Yeah, right!  Your objectives are:

• Develop a concept of the clipboard in relation to computer memory
• Operate more than one application at a time
• Use cut-and-paste techniques to transfer information from one application to another

We'll start with the clipboard. The clipboard is a temporary memory storage area located in your computer. For you techie types, it is usually a defined dynamic memory area in RAM.  It's temporary (turn off the power and the information goes bye-bye), and limited in size.  (If those sentences didn't make sense to you, don't worry about it. Next time when you see a sentence beginning, "For you techie types,....", just ignore it and move onward!) When you tell it to, your computer takes information that you have identified and places it 'on the clipboard.' From there you can paste it into almost any Window's based application. This means that you can transfer information from the Internet to your word processor (our most common usage, and the focus of this activity), or from a graphics program into a word processor, or between a spreadsheet and a graphics program or word processor, ......you get the idea. Pretty neat, huh?   Remember, information has to be selected before it goes onto the clipboard, otherwise W95 doesn't know what to copy!

Think of all the keyboarding this will save you! When you're asked for the URL of a page, all you have to do is highlight it with the mouse, copy it to the clipboard, and paste it into your word processing document where you want it. No lengthy 'http://www..........', no more typo's, etc. It even works with images. In the Windows 95 classes, you are required to transfer 'snapshots' of your desktop as part of your homework. In addition, importing images into documents, creating multimedia, all of these make use of the clipboard.  One way to do this is by using the PrintScrn key (top row-upper right) on your keyboard.  Check it out at our exclusive Using the PrintScrn Key Mini-Seminar  .

1. Start your computer and log into the Internet as you normally would.
2. Click: Start->Programs->Accessories->Wordpad. (Note: Feel free to start your word processor of choice. We're using Wordpad here simply because everyone has it. Copying and pasting works with almost any word processor.) The word processor is shown on your screen, and is now the active application. BTW (By The Way), guess what? We're multitasking!! You're active on the 'Net and working a word processor at the same time. Doesn't that boost your inner being and make you feel great about yourself?
3. If your word processor doesn't fill the entire screen, maximize it by clicking in the middle box of the sizing bar in the upper right corner of your document screen. If your screen is not maximized already, you will see a button with a single box between the two other buttons, one with an underscore and the other with an X. Your screen is already maximized if the application (any application) fills the screen an there are two boxes, one on top of the other, in the middle button.
4. Look at the task bar at the bottom of your screen. There should be at least two buttons on it, one for your Internet browser (i.e.: Netscape or IE Explorer) and one for your word processor (i.e.: Wordpad, Word Perfect, Word, whatever). Note that you now have the word processor maximized and active. Click the button for the browser.
5. Now the browser is the active application. Maximize it just as you did the word processor.
6. The current screen is your 'Home Page'. It's the page you get to when you first log onto the 'Net. We'll learn how to change it later.
7. Click the mouse cursor near some text, HOLD THE LEFT BUTTON DOWN, and drag it down the screen. As you do, you will notice that the contents of the page change color as the cursor passes over them. When you've highlighted three or four lines of text, release the left mouse button. The text should stay in a colored box. This is called 'Highlighting', and the act of clicking the mouse button, holding it, then moving it is called 'Click-and-Drag'. They are two of the most basic operations connected with Windows. OK, that takes care of the 'Highlight' part! Remember, all of this takes place on the browser screen, not the word processor.
8. Now, to place the highlighted text on the clipboard, you have a choice. The 'wimpy way' is to use the mouse to click Edit->Copy from the Edit function of the menu bar at the top of your application window. A second way is to click the Copy button on the tool bar. That's the one that looks like two pieces of paper, one on top of the other, with the right corner folded over. Most Windows applications have it, but for some reason or other, most browser's don't. However, since we want to be known far and wide as 'Power People', we'll use the hot -key method. A hot key is using two or three keys to perform a pre-programmed operation. There are several hot key combinations which are common to most Windows applications, and copy and paste are two of them. The hot key combination for copying is Ctrl+C. That is, hold down the Ctrl key (at either end of the keyboard, it makes no difference), and at the same time, tap the "C" key, then release the Ctrl key. Hold Ctrl, tap C, release both. Ctrl+C (for copy). That's all there is to it. OK, hold down the Ctrl key, tap the C key, then release them both. Hm....looks like nothing happened! Don't despair, that's the way it's supposed to be! Finally, we got the 'Copy' phase out of the way. It just occurred to me that it takes a bunch more time to tell you how to do it than it does to get the job done. Oh, well.....
9. Part three: Locating. Click the button on the toolbar for the word processor to activate it. You should have just a blank document, but normally you'd have text and formatting already in place such as your name along with another answer or two. The trick to remember is that items copied from the clipboard are placed where the insertion point is located when the paste operation takes place. The insertion point is the little blinking vertical line that's on your screen. We used to call it the cursor, but now the cursor is actually the mouse pointer. Go figure. Anyway, place the mouse pointer (a.k.a.: the cursor) anywhere in the page and left click just to make sure it's located and active.
10. Now for the final part, pasting. Remember, the information is patiently waiting for you on the clipboard, and will stay there as long as you don't do either of two things. You can't do another copy operation, because the information from the second copy will replace the information already on the clipboard, and you can't turn off your machine, because that will deprive the RAM of power and it will lose whatever's in memory.
11. You have basically the same three choices for pasting that you had for copying. You can use the Edit->Paste routine from the menu bar, you can click the paste button (If available. It's the one that looks like a clipboard.), or you can use the paste hot key, Ctrl+V. Don't ask. I haven't come up with a cute alliteration for it yet. It can't be Ctrl+P, because that's already taken by the printing hot key. Go ahead. Take a chance. Press Ctrl+V. I dare you!!
12. You should see the text you had highlighted appear in your word processing document.
13. If you see the highlighted text, great! If not, go back to Step 7 or so and give it another shot. If that doesn't work, holler for help.
14. OK, so you've got the text pasted into your word processor. Just for kicks, press Ctrl+V again. Whoa!! Instant deja-vu!! (Is that an oxymoron? Is it even spelled correctly?) Actually, what you place on the clipboard stays there until replaced by another copy operation or until the power is shut off. That means you can open another operation, whatever, and the information will still be there, waiting to be pasted again, and again, and again, and.........
15. OK, let's get fancy.  Click the browser button on the task bar to activate it.  Your browser should pop back into view.
16. Left click the mouse once in the Location or Netsite box.  That's the one that has http://....... in it.  It should turn blue.  If it doesn't, try clicking once in the web document window, the try the Location box again.  See, it will turn blue!  That means it's highlighted.  Cool, huh?  Press Ctrl+C.
17. Return to the word processor (use the task bar, remember?), and do a paste operation.  The URL from the browser magically appears in your word processor at the location of the insertion point.  Trust me, this little trick will save you much effort and frustration.
18. Play around a bit with what we've done. Try highlighting an image in your browser. It won't work in most browsers, but you can try it. Work with copying and pasting from different applications, making multiple copies, etc.

 

Take care, and have fun!