The Web Doctor

In another article I tried to scare you to death with tales of disintegrating drives. Now I'm going to teach you how to cut and paste on your computer. That may also seem destructive, but it's actually one of the most constructive things you can do on your PC (personal computer).

Cutting and pasting refers to the easy movement of text in a document. Every writer (and if you ever write anything, you're a writer) has occasions when they would rather have some text that's in one location placed in a different location. The most obvious way to accomplish this is to delete the text that's in the wrong place and type it again where you want it. Wouldn't it be much better if you could just move the text you've already typed to the place you want it? That's what cutting and pasting does for you.

The term "cutting and pasting" comes from the newspaper business. When I first started taking photographs for Jere Ayers' Danielsville Monitor and Comer News, the newspapers were created on large sheets of paper. The articles would be typed, and then they would be cut from the small sheets of paper and pasted onto the large sheets. But it wasn't long before the newspapers were put together completely by computer (as is The Good Life), and all the cutting and pasting was done with keyboards and mice, rather than scissors and glue. In May, 2005, Jere went home to heaven, and I guess he took the papers with him.

Cutting and pasting will not be useful just for your next book; it's useful for all kinds of writing. Email, recipes, notes, letters, articles, all can be faster and more pleasant to create with this easy technique. And like most things done on a computer, there's more than one way to do it. The best way to learn it is for you to try it out while you read the rest of this article.

A personal or business letter with several paragraphs would be a good sample document on which to practice this technique. Start whatever program you used to create Letter to Aunt Tillie.doc, open the document (File / Open) and immediately give it a new name like Cut and Paste.doc. You do this with the menu commands File / Save as.

Before we proceed with cutting and pasting, I'd like to write a bit about word processing programs. Chances are good you already have the software you need, but if you need something better, I want to encourage you to be a good steward of the money with which God has entrusted you. Instead of spending over $300 for Microsoft Office, get OpenOffice for free. I have used it for years for all kinds of writing, video presentations, and other tasks for which most people use MS Office. It can open and save MS Office files, so you can share documents with those who have already spent the big bucks. OpenOffice can be downloaded free at http://www.openoffice.org or you can order a CD if you lack a fast Internet connection. When I make a house call, I always have OpenOffice with me, and I'm glad to install it while I'm there… and provide some help using it.

OK, you're looking at a document on your computer monitor that has at least two paragraphs in it. You decide it would be better if the second paragraph came before the first. Here's one way to move it. Position your mouse cursor (the little screen thingy you move with your mouse) just to the left of the first letter of the second paragraph. Click the left mouse button to place the typing cursor (the little screen thingy that shows where the next letter you type will go) at that location.

Now you need to select the paragraph to be moved. There are at least two ways to do this, so you can use whichever you like. One way is to drag your mouse cursor through the paragraph to select it. To drag means to press the left mouse button and hold it down while you move the mouse to cause the whole paragraph to be shaded. Then you release the button, and the paragraph is selected (shaded). The other way to select the paragraph is to hold down one of the Shift keys and use the arrow keys to select (shade) the paragraph.

Using one of the above methods, you should now have the second paragraph selected (shaded). To cut it, you can click the scissors icon at the top of your program or click the menu items Edit / Cut. The paragraph will disappear, but it has not been lost. It has been transferred to the Clipboard, a location in your computer's memory. Another way to cut selected text is to type Ctrl-X (hold down the Ctrl key while you type the X).

Now use the mouse cursor to place the typing cursor at the beginning of the first paragraph. To paste the second paragraph (which is now in the Clipboard), you can click the clipboard icon at the top of your program or click the menu items Edit / Paste. You can also paste the paragraph by simply typing Ctrl-V (hold down the Ctrl key while you type the V).

Your newly-pasted paragraph may be stuck to what was the first paragraph with no space or indent between them. Fix this by using the mouse cursor to place the typing cursor at the end of the newly-pasted paragraph and type the Enter key (not the word "Enter").

Now wasn't that a lot easier than deleting and retyping the paragraph? Well, with a little practice, it certainly will be, and you can use this for everything you write, from emails to your next best-seller novel.