Basic Text Editing

1. Pointer/curser

1. The mouse pointer on a page of text becomes a tall, skinny ‘I’
2. The curser is a vertical blinking line. The curser indicates where the current editing operation will take place.
3. The curser can be placed using any or all of the following operators:

i. To position the cursor, place the mouse pointer at the desired location and click the mouse.

ii. The curser can be moved using the ‘arrow’ keys on the keyboard

iii. The curser can be moved to the beginning of a line by pressing the ‘home’ key

iv. The curser can be moved to the end of a line by pressing the ‘end’ key

v. The curser can be moved to the beginning of the text field by pressing the ‘Ctrl’ (control) key and the ‘home’ key at the same time.

vi. The curser can be moved to the end of the text field by pressing the ‘Ctrl’ (control) key and the ‘end’ key at the same time.

vii. The curser can be moved to the next page of the text field (if there is more than one page in the text document) by pressing the ‘page down’ key.

viii. The curser can be moved to the previous page of the text field (if there is more than one page in the text document) by pressing the ‘page up’ key.

2. Typing text - Almost all of the keys in the main area of the keyboard are identical in function to those on a typewriter. Some of the exceptions are shown below:

1. The Ctrl (control) and Alt (alternate) keys invoke alternate key functions
2. The ‘Windows’ key brings up the start menu
3. The ‘Edit’ key at the lower right of the main keyboard (below the ‘shift’ key) brings up editing functions (cut, paste, etc.)
4. The ‘Enter’ key initiates a new line of text and places the curser at the beginning of the new line. This is equivalent to the carriage return/linefeed key on an electric typewriter or the carriage return lever on a manual typewriter.

3. Select (highlight) text – options for selecting text are shown below

1. Click and shift/click

i. Place the curser at the beginning of the text to be selected.

ii. Hold the ‘shift’ key down

iii. Position the mouse pointer at the end of the text to be selected.

iv. Click the mouse. The text between the beginning and the end will be selected.

2. Click and drag

i. Place the curser at the beginning or end of the text to be selected.

ii. Click the mouse and hold the button.

iii. Drag the mouse across the text to be selected.

iv. Release the mouse button.

3. Select all (1)

i. Right click on the text field – this will open a menu box.

ii. Click on ‘Select all’ – all of the text in the document will be selected (not all editing programs provide this function).

4. Select all (2)

i. Click ‘Edit’ in the tool bar at the top of the window – this will open a menu box

ii. Click ‘Select all’– all of the text in the document will be selected.

5. Select all (3)

i. Press the ‘edit’ key (lower right of the keyboard, below the shift key)

ii. Click ‘Select all’– all of the text in the document will be selected (not all editing programs provide this function).

4. Delete text (1)

1. Place the curser at the end of the text to be deleted
2. Press the ‘backspace’ key – text to the left of the curser will be deleted, one character for each press of the ‘backspace’ key.

5. Delete text (2)

1. Place the curser at the beginning of the text to be deleted
2. Press the ‘Delete’ key – text to the right of the curser will be deleted, one character for each press of the ‘delete’ key

6. Delete text (3)

1. Select the text to be deleted
2. Delete using one of the following methods

i. Press the ‘delete’ key

ii. Press the ‘backspace’ key

iii. Right click; then click ‘delete’ in the menu box (not all editing programs provide this function).

iv. Click ‘Edit’ in the tool bar at the top of the window and click ‘delete’ (not all editing programs provide this function).

v. Press the ‘Edit’ key at the lower right of the keyboard (below the shift key) and click ‘delete’ from the menu box (not all editing programs provide this function).

7. Cut text - cutting text is not the same as deleting text. Text that is cut is saved in a memory area called the clipboard and is available for the paste operation.

1. Select the text to be cut
2. Cut using one of the following operations

i. Right click and click ‘cut’

ii. Click ‘Edit’ in the toolbar and click ‘cut’ in the dropdown menu.

iii. Press the ‘Edit’ key at the lower right of the keyboard (below the shift key) and click ‘cut’ from the menu box.

8. Copy text – text is saved in a memory area called the clipboard and is available for the paste operation.

1. Select the text to be copied
2. Copy using one of the following operations:

i. Right click and click ‘copy’

ii. Click ‘Edit’ in the toolbar and click ‘copy’ in the dropdown menu.

iii. Press the ‘Edit’ key at the lower right of the keyboard (below the shift key) and click ‘copy’ from the menu box.

9. Insert/replace text – any or all of the following:

1. Place the curser at the desired location and type the text.
2. Place the curser at the desired location and paste the text using one of the following

i. Right click and click ‘paste’

ii. Click ‘Edit’ in the toolbar and click ‘paste’ in the dropdown menu.

iii. Press the ‘Edit’ key at the lower right of the keyboard (below the shift key) and click ‘paste’ from the menu box.

3. Select the text to be replaced and type the desired text
4. Select the text to be replaced and paste the desired text using one of the following

i. Right click; click ‘paste’ on the menu box

ii. Click ‘Edit’ in the toolbar and click ‘paste’ in the dropdown menu.

iii. Press the ‘Edit’ key at the lower right of the keyboard (below the shift key) and click ‘paste’ from the menu box.

10. Move/copy text –drag and drop (not all editing programs provide this function)
1. Select text to be moved/copied
2. Click the selected text and hold the mouse button down
3. Drag the text to the desired location
4. If moving text, release the mouse button.
5. If copying text, hold the ‘Ctrl’ key, then release the mouse button.

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