How to Copy and Paste in Microsoft Word

Last Updated: February 16, 2023

Copying and pasting texts in Microsoft Word is very important because it saves you lot of time and energy when duplicating words a number of times. You can select and copy a word, or group of words, and then duplicate it by pasting the word(s) wherever you want in your document.

Part 1

Part 1 of 2:

Opening a Microsoft Word Document

1
Launch Microsoft Word. The Microsoft Word icon should be found on your desktop; just double-click on it to launch the program.
- If it’s not on the desktop, find in the program files and click the program to launch.
2
Open a Word document. Do this by clicking “File” on the top-left corner of the screen and selecting “Open.” An explorer window will appear where you can navigate your folders until you find the Word document you want to open.
- Once you’ve found the document, click on it to select, then click “Open” on the bottom right side of the window.

Part 2

Part 2 of 2:

Copying and Pasting

1
Find the text you want to copy. Scroll through the document until you find the text you want to copy.
2
Highlight the text. You can highlight a text by left-clicking then dragging your mouse pointer over the text that you want to copy.
3
Copy the word(s). After highlighting, right-click then choose “Copy” from the options that come up.
- Alternatively, you can press Ctrl + C on your keyboard or click the “Copy” button in your Microsoft Word, which is located at the upper-left side of the Home tab, after highlighting the texts.
4
Paste the word(s). Go to the part of your document where you want to place the text(s) that you’ve copied and then click on it. Right-click, and choose “Paste” from the options that appear.
- As a shortcut, you can also press Ctrl + V on your keyboard, or click the “Paste” button on the Home tab at the upper-left side of the screen.