Danielle McCarthy
Technology

Back to basics: How to Copy, Paste, and Delete files

Lisa Du is director of ReadyTechGo, a service that helps people gain the confidence and skills to embrace modern technology.

For Windows users
There are many different ways to perform these functions on a computer file. We’ll give you the simplest.

  1. Perform a right-hand click of your mouse on the file you wish to copy or delete. This will summon a drop-down menu, which will give you a variety of options of what you can do with the file
  2. These options include copy and delete. Simply click on one of these functions with your mouse to perform them!
  3. If you click on “Delete”, a window will pop up requiring you to confirm the deletion. After you’ve done so, the file will be deleted
  4. If you click on “Copy”, the computer will create a copy of that file
  5. To paste this file into another folder, first go to that folder
  6. Perform a right-hand click of your mouse anywhere within the window of the folder
  7. In the drop-down menu that appears, click on “Paste”. The copied file will then appear in this window.

For those of you who are looking for an even quicker way to perform these functions, here are some useful shortcuts.

  1. Highlight the file you wish to copy or delete by clicking on it
  2. To delete the file, simply press the “Delete” button on your keyboard, and then confirm the deletion. Done!
  3. To copy the file, press and hold down the “Ctrl” key on your keyboard
  4. At the same time, press and hold down the “C” key, and then let go of both. This will copy the file!
  5. To paste this file into another folder, first go to that folder
  6. Press and hold down the “Ctrl” key on your keyboard
  7. At the same time, press and hold down the “V” key, and then let go of both. The copied file will then appear in this window.

For Mac users
The process for copying, pasting, and deleting files is much the same for Mac users!

  1. Perform a right-hand click of your mouse on the file you wish to copy or delete. This will summon a drop-down menu, which will give you a variety of options of what you can do with the file
  2. These options include copy and delete. Simply click on one of these functions with your mouse to perform them!
  3. If you click on “Move To Trash”, the file will be deleted
  4. If you click on “Copy”, the computer will create a copy of that file
  5. To paste this file into another folder, first go to that folder
  6. Perform a right-hand click of your mouse anywhere within the window of the folder
  7. In the drop-down menu that appears, click on “Paste Item”. The copied file will then appear in this window.

Like Windows users, Mac users have the option to use shortcuts, too.

  1. Highlight the file you wish to copy or delete by clicking on it
  2. To delete the file, simply drag the file to the “Trash” icon on the far right-hand side of your Dock. Done!
  3. To copy the file, press and hold down the “Command” key on your keyboard
  4. At the same time, press and hold down the “C” key, and then let go of both. This will copy the file!
  5. To paste this file into another folder, first go to that folder
  6. Press and hold down the “Command” key on your keyboard
  7. At the same time, press and hold down the “V” key, and then let go of both. The copied file will then appear in this window.

For more tech-tips, visit ReadyTechGo. 

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Tags:
Technology, computer, paste, skills, copy