We are living in a world of digital shortcuts. Some of the tasks that would take long to execute on your devices can now be performed much more comfortable. That could be by a quick press of different keyboard combinations or a flicker of the mouse/touchpad. In this post, we will show you how to perform Copy and Paste actions on a Chromebook.
We will look at how you can copy and paste texts, documents, folders, images, Terminal commands and output, and much more. We will focus on two main utilities, the Keyboard and the Chromebook touchpad/mouse. Before getting started, let’s first understand how you can right-click on a Chromebook.
How to right-click in Chromebook
Unlike most Touchpads in other laptops with both the Left-click and Right-click buttons, Chromebooks come with only one button, which acts as a left-click. That might not be very clear for first-time users. However, there are three ways in which you can perform a right-click action in a Chromebook.
The first most straightforward way is tapping the touchpad with two fingers. The second method is holding the Alt key and clicking once on the touchpad. The other way is connecting an external mouse to your Chromebook via the USB port.
1. Copy and Paste text selections
Step 1: To copy the text, you first need to select it using the cursor or Keyboard. To select using the cursor, click and hold at the beginning of the text and drag. In word documents and text editors, you can select the entire text using the keyboard combination Ctrl + A.
Step 2: Once selected, we can now copy the text using the keyboard combination Ctrl + C. Alternatively, you can right-click on your Chromebook to open the menu. Select the Copy option.
Step 3: To paste the text, use the keyboard combination Ctrl + V. Alternatively, right-click and select the Paste option from the list.
Note: The copied text will remain in the clipboard unless it’s overwritten with another Copy action. You can, therefore, paste it multiple times without the need to select and copy again. Also, the Chrome OS saves the text formatting to clipboard. If you copy a bolded text, it will come with a bold format when you paste in word.
2. Copy and paste files and folders
You can Copy and Paste media files, applications, text documents, and folders easily with Chrome OS.
Step 1: You need to select the particular file(s) and folders you want to copy. Suppose it’s a single file, single-click on it. To select multiple files in order, click and hold on the first file and drag to select other files. If you want to select all files in a folder, use the keyboard combination Ctrl + A.
Step 2: Once selected, copy the files by pressing Ctrl + C. You can also right-click on the selected folder and choose the Copy option.
Step 3: To paste, use the keyboard combination Ctrl + V. Alternatively, right-click on the destination folder and select the Paste option.
3. Copy and Paste on the Terminal
If you have installed Linux (Beta) on your Chromebook, you should see the Terminal among the installed applications. To copy and paste on the Terminal, the standard Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V keyboard combination will not work alone. We will need to include the Shift key. That is because the Ctrl + C and Ctrl + Z combination are commands used to cancel running Terminal operations.
Step 1: To Copy terminal content, all you need to do is select it by clicking and hold at the beginning of the text and drag. That’s it! You don’t need to use a keyboard combination like Ctrl + C. However, if that doesn’t work for you, once you have selected the content, use the combination Ctrl + Shift + C to copy.
Step 2: To paste on the Terminal is much simpler. Right-click anywhere on the Terminal. This action will paste your copied content. Alternatively, use the combination Ctrl + Shift + V to paste.
4. Copy and paste images from the internet
There are times where you need to use images from the internet in your documents and presentations. Let’s look at how you can copy and use these images.
Step 1: Right-click on the image and select the copy option.
Step 2: Navigate to the document where you want to paste the image. Right to click and select the Paste option from the pop-up menu.
That’s it! Those are four ways you can apply when performing copy and paste actions in a Chromebook.