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How To Copy and Paste on Chromebook: The 4 SIMPLE Methods
Copy and pasting on a Chromebook is easy – here’s how!
Wondering how to copy and paste on Chromebook? Chromebooks are increasingly a popular option for those wanting thin and light notebooks but don’t want to shell out the money for a high-snd PC laptop or MacBook.
Chromebooks are particularly popular for those already locked into the Google or Android ecosystem. For example, if your email is a Gmail, you do most of your searching via Google, and you rely on Good Docs on a daily basis, a Chromebook could be the perfect laptop for you.
But because a Chromebooks doesn’t run macOS or Windows, when many people switch to one they are confused by the operating system. That operating system is ChromeOS. And while ChromeOS isn’t as versatile as macOS or Windows, it’s still a good OS – you just need to take the time to learn how to use it.
But what about when it comes everyday functions like copying and pasting? There’s good news! For the most part, copying and pasting is no different than it is on macOS or Windows.
Let’s take a look at four ways you can copy and post on a Chromebook.
Chromebook: Quick Copy & Paste Using The Keyboard
Okay – trust me – a lot of this will seem familiar if you are used to copy and pasting on a Mac or PC. The first way to copy and paste on a Chromebook is to use the shortcut keys on the keyboard.
- Select a portion of text you want to copy and paste by clicking and highlighting it with the mouse’s cursor.
- Press and hold the CONTROL button and then also press the C button (while continuing to hold the control button). You have now copied the selected text and can let go of the C button and the control button.
- Now move your mouse cursor into the field where you want to paste the text (like a Google Doc).
- Press and hold the CONTROL button and then also press the V button (while continuing to hold the control button). You’ll see the copied text now appears where the cursor was.
And that’s it! Easy, right?
Chromebook: Copy & Paste Everything You See
The above method works great if you just want to copy and paste single words or sentences. But what if you want to copy and paste everything you see in a document? It’s best to select all the text in that case, then copy and paste.
- Move the mouse and click the document you want to select all text to copy. So make sure the cursor is flashing in the document.
- Press and hold the CONTROL button and then also press the A button (while continuing to hold the control button). You’ll see all the text in the document become selected (highlighted).
- Now press and hold the CONTROL button and then also press the C button (while continuing to hold the control button). You have now copied the selected text and can let go of the C button and the control button.
- Now move your mouse cursor into the field where you want to paste the text (like a Google Doc).
- Press and hold the CONTROL button and then also press the V button (while continuing to hold the control button). You’ll see the copied text now appears where the cursor was.
Chromebook: Copy & Paste To Formatting
Sometimes you will copy text from one source that you want to paste into another (like from a website into a Google Doc). In that case, the source and destination locations might have different fonts.
Ideally, you’ll want to match the font of the destination document. Here’s an easy way to do that without having to manually alter the font after pasting it.
- Select a portion of text you want to copy and paste by clicking and highlighting it with the mouse’s cursor.
- Press and hold the CONTROL button and then also press the C button (while continuing to hold the control button). You have now copied the selected text and can let go of the C button and the control button.
- Now move your mouse cursor into the field where you want to paste the text (like a Google Doc).
- Press and hold the CONTROL button as well as the SHIFT button and then also press the V button (while continuing to hold the control button). You’ll see the copied text now appears where the cursor was and it matches the formatting of the existing text in the document.
Chromebook: Copy & Paste Using The Mouse Or Trackpad
Finally, if you don’t like using keyboard shortcuts like the ones we described above, you can use the mouse or trackpad to copy and paste text on a Chromebook.
- Using the mouse or trackpad, select a portion of text you want to copy and paste by clicking and highlighting it with the mouse’s cursor.
- Right-click on the selected text so the popup menu appears.
- Click Copy in the popup menu.
- Now go to the document you want to paste the copied text into and place the cursor inside the document by clicking with the mouse where you want the selected text to go.
- Right-click in the document so the popup menu appears.
- Click Paste in the popup menu. You’ll see the copied text now appears where the cursor was.
And that’s it! Easy, huh?
Be sure to check out how to access your clipboard on Android, too!