Of Mice, Cut, Copy and Paste  

 

USING THE MOUSE

The  most widely used computer interface is the mouse.  There are a lot of other ways to communicate with your computer, like light pens, touch sensitive screens... and..., but a faulty mouse can really cause you a lot of trouble and most of us use mice.  If you have a good mouse you can be rapid and accurate in your interactions.

Last week I was training a senior on the use of his computer.  He had a balky wireless mouse that he could not really do well with it at all.  Because of the lack of sensitivity, it was very hard to teach him much.  It was all stop and go... fiddle with the mouse, talk, talk talk, fiddle....  It would work, but not well.  It was kind of a herky-jerky thing.  I had to constantly grab the mouse from him to demonstrate what the functions were possible and needed.

If  you have an old mouse with the ball on the bottom, toss it in the junk and get an optical mouse.  The old ball mice gather dirt, lint, grease and hair and eventually become unusable.  I've taken them apart for tidy housekeepers and they are horrified. 

They are easy to clean, but just a single eyelash can foul them up.  They are also sensitive to the surface on which they are placed.  An optical mouse is a good replacement.  Don't ever use a mechanical mouse again.  Also, wireless mice are a pain.  The mouse is your most important tool, so get a decent one.

If you can get used to those touch sensitive gimmicks on a laptop or the little eraser thing, then be my guest.  They are not as good as a high quality mouse.

Mouse Functions:

In doing training, I'm surprised when some long time users don't realize that their modern mouse has 3 buttons and a wheel.  The left mouse button is the one you use lots, but windows users should get used to playing with the right mouse button.  The wheel in the middle can be used for scrolling and in some high end applications as a 3rd button that triggers advanced options.  This is not often used.

Mouse Aerobics

If you want to get a little practice, try this tutorial developed by the Palm Beach Library System.

Mouse Aerobics

Cutting and Pasting

As a child you cut out pictures carefully. After cutting, next you pasted your picture or shape on another page. The computer world uses a very similar technique to move information from one location to another. Once you have learned to cut and paste, your computing days will be very productive.

Terms

Okay, in computerize, what is Cut and Paste? Cut and Paste and its good buddy Copy and Paste are computer functions that allow you to move or copy text, images, and even Web information from one location to another location. The Cut function removes the information from its original location, and Paste puts it someplace else. Using the Copy/Paste functions, you can copy information to a new location without removing it from the original location.

How?

Let's start with moving some text. Using your mouse, place the cursor at the beginning of the text you want to move so that you can highlight the text. Click and hold down the left mouse button and drag the cursor to the end of the text that you want to move. This will highlight (darken) the text. You now have several ways to cut the selection:

  1. Select Cut from the Edit Menu at the top of the screen, or
  2. Press and hold down the Ctrl key and press the X key at the same time, or

The text will disappear.  (not here of course because we don't allow you to get rid of what we've written.

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After you have cut the text, place your cursor at the location where you want the text to be displayed. Again, there are several choices to "paste" the text:

  1. Select Paste from the Edit Menu at the top of the screen, or
  2. Press and hold down the Ctrl key while pressing the V key at the same time.

Any of these choices will "paste" the selection in the new location.

If you want to copy some text and place it in another location, select the text as mentioned above. To copy:

  1. Select Copy from the Edit Menu at the top of the page, or
  2. Press and hold down the Ctrl key while pressing the C key at the same time.

To Paste a copy of the text into a new location, follow the Paste directions above.

Behind the Scenes

When you use the Cut or Copy functions, the information is stored in the computer's memory in an area called the Clipboard. Although you cannot see the information, it remains in the computer Clipboard until you use the Copy or Cut command again, at which time the information that was previously in the Clipboard is overwritten with the latest information that you just copied. Newer Microsoft Office Products, like Microsoft Word, allow you to keep more than one item in the Clipboard at one time.

Grayed Out

If you are ready to Cut or Copy and you find that you cannot click on the cut or copy icon, it means that you do not have anything highlighted. When nothing is highlighted, the (Cut) icon and the  (Copy) icon will be light gray in color, which indicates they are currently unavailable. Run your mouse across some text to highlight it, and you will see both icons brighten and become active.

Select All

Have you found an entire document or maybe Web page that you would like to copy or move? Click your mouse anywhere in the document or Web page, then go to the Edit menu and choose Select All.

Select All is a very helpful feature that can save you much time and energy. When using Select All, the computer will do the highlighting work for you and highlight the entire document or Web page. This saves you from having to run your cursor over the entire page to highlight it. You can then follow the usual steps to copy and paste the complete selection in another document. Guess what? If you are on the Internet, you can copy the complete page - text, hot links, and images as well.

Working with Images

Did you say images? Can you really Copy and Paste images and pictures? The answer is emphatically YES. It is possible to Cut/Copy/Paste images. When working in a word processing document or another similar application program, you can simply click on an image to choose it and then copy or paste it, just as you would text. When you are on the Internet, it is even easier. You can simply right-click on any image and select Copy from the pop-up menu. Or you can right-click the image and select Save Picture As.

A quick tip: If you use the Save Picture As option, be sure you name the graphic and be careful to place it in a folder that you can easily locate in the future. If you have a My Pictures folder, that is a good spot.

Very Valuable Skill

Even though its name may have brought back memories of a kindergarten assignment, Cut/Copy/Paste is a very valuable computer skill. I'm sure you will agree with me that mastering this basic skill of copying and moving text and graphics will make your computing days more productive.