How to copy and paste on a Chromebook

(Pocket-lint) – If you’ve got yourself a Chromebook then you might have found simple things like copying and pasting aren’t as easy as you’d like.  Copying and pasting text from one thing to another should be straightforward, so if you need to know how to do it while using your Chromebook then stick with us as we give you the tips you need. 

Copying and pasting with keyboard shortcuts 

One of the easiest ways to copy and paste on a Chromebook is by using keyboard shortcuts. If you’ve used a Windows machine before these shortcuts will be family familiar to you. 

In order to copy and paste using the keyboard you just first need to highlight what you want to copy. Use the trackpad to place your cursor near where you want to copy, then hold down your shift key while nudging the cursor in the right direction by using the arrow keys. This should highlight the text in question and you can use it to copy words or whole sentences with ease. 

Once the text you need is highlighted, press and hold the CTRL key on the left of the keyboard and press C. This is the shortcut for copying.  The next step is to click over to the window, tab or app you’re trying to copy the text into and press CTRL+V.

This will paste whatever you’ve copied. 

Copy and paste without formatting

If you’re busy copying and pasting on your Chromebook then you might find that you’re copying extra things along with your text without meaning to.

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These are some deals you can’t afford to miss! Selecting text from around the web can sometimes result in HTML code being copied along with the text and that can then cause problems in other places resulting in odd styles appearing or code showing itself where it shouldn’t be.  The good news is, that it’s possible to copy and paste and remove that code at the same time.

First, start by copying as you would normally. But then instead of pasting immediately, click where you want to paste and click CTRL+SHIFT+V. This is the default shortcut for pasting without formating.

It’ll remove any pesky styles, code or other things and leave you with just the plain text.  Alternatively, you can first paste the text into a text editor like Text and Caret before then pasting it wherever you’re trying to get the text. This will also strip the formatting out. 

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How to copy and paste on a Chromebook photo 2

Copying and pasting by right-clicking

As you know, the Chromebook design isn’t like other laptops.

Although Chromebooks have a trackpad, they don’t have two buttons like a traditional trackpad, so you can’t just press down on the right side of the trackpad to right-click. This can make it a pain to access the menu you’d normally expect to see by using right click.  Obviously, you could plug a mouse in and use that instead but there is actually a way to right-click without doing that.

You just need to press two fingers on the trackpad at the same time.  So the other way to copy and paste is by using the trackpad to highlight the text you want then press two fingers on the trackpad to open the menu. From this menu, you’ll see the option to copy, paste and paste without formatting.

So just click copy and then replicate the process wherever you need the text.  You can use this right-click menu to copy images as well. Simply click on the image, then use the two-finger shortcut on the trackpad to open the menu.

From there click copy image and then copy it into the document or whatever else you need to. 

Other copying and pasting tips

There are other things worth knowing to make your life easier when trying copy and paste on Chromebook:

  • As well as two-finger clicks on the trackpad, you can also access the menu by holding the ALT key and clicking on the trackpad at the same time. 
  • You can use the two-finger or ALT+click trick to copy video URLs (e.g. to share YouTube videos) with ease.
  • To copy an entire page, rather than just a selected snippet of text use the keyboard shortcut CTRL+A.

    This will copy everything and anything on the page though. 

  • If you need to copy multiple things at once then there are Chromebook extensions that can help. MultiCopy Clipboard, Copy & Paste is one example worth trying.

    This stores things locally so you can access them when you need them too. 

Writing by Adrian Willings.

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