Cut & Paste Tutorial




Cut and Paste is one of the newest features of WebTV, and maybe one of the most confusing and intimidating. This feature, when used properly, can be of great benefit when writing replies to e-mails, posting in newsgroups, joining webrings, and any other situation where copying or editing text is necessary.
Cut and paste is actually very simple, once you learn the basic keys to use.
There are basically two things you can do with this feature:
* Edit/Cut Text
* Copy/Paste Text
We'll cover them one at a time, beginning with cutting or editing text.

Editing/Cutting Text


Whenever you wish to cut/edit OR paste/copy, you must first highlight the text you wish to use. This is done using several methods, but I've found the one I'll describe below to be the easiest.
Let's say we want to edit the paragraph above. The first thing we need to do is highlight the text we want to remove. Let's say we want to erase the words "several methods."
Press the Find button on the keyboard and type in "several methods" This phrase will now be highlighted. To increase or decrease the area highlighted, use the arrow keys (right, left, up, and down) and the SHIFT key. Hold down the CMD key and press one of the arrows. Left and right will move you one space in that direction, while up and down will move you one line either way. Once you've selected the text you want to cut or remove, press CMD and X. The text will vanish. You can remove one work, one sentence, or a whole page of info. It's completely up to you how much text you highlight. If you ever want to escape (un-highlight all the text), just press CMD and A.

Copying/Pasting Text


When copying or pasting text, the first thing you need to do is hightlight text, just like we covered in the section above. The only different here is that we are not going to erase the text...rather, we are going to make a copy and place that copy somewhere else (in an e-mail, a newsgroup, on a web page, etc.) Once you've highlighted the text you want to copy or paste, press CMD and C. This will copy the text into your box's memory, and it will stay there until you power off, change users, or copy it. It will also be erased if you press CMD and C again.
Now that we've stored the piece we want to copy, we need to find the place to put it. Go to the place you wish to copy it (as I've said, it can be in an e-mail message, a newsgroup posing, on a Web Page builder, etc.). Move your cursor to the spot where you want the text to appear. Then press CMD and V. It's that simple. The text will then appear in the area you've selected.
Cut and paste is a feature that you will likely find very helpful, especially if you write a lot of e-mails or use chatrooms/discussion groups a lot. It makes it a lot easier to reply to a message because with Cut and Paste, you can now quote part or all of the original message without having to re-type it.
I'd suggest practicing the different features of Cut and Paste by using your mailbox. Type a letter and send it to yourself. Then practice editing and copying parts of the letter. Try copying part of it to a new message you're writing, and send that whole letter to yourself. After a few tries, you'll have it down and find it easier and easier.

A Note About Quoting Text: Sometimes, you may notice that quoted text is indented and smaller than the reply. Here's how to do that:
Once you've copied the quoted text, you'll need to place a > at the beginning of each line of the quoted text. Also, you will need to hit enter at the end of each line. This will make any lines you do this to appear smaller and indented. There is no need to put a < at the end of each line or paragraph.