Chromebooks run ChromeOS, which should be a new experience for most people. Although the methods to copy and paste content on ChromeOS are similar to those on Windows and macOS, there are multiple ways to use the mouse, trackpads, and keyboard shortcuts for different types of content.

how to copy and paste on chromebook

In this article, we will explain several ways to copy and paste content on your Chromebook using mouse and keyboard shortcuts. The methods are sorted by the type of content to help you find the methods you need.

Let us get started.

How to Copy and Paste Text on Chromebook

If you want to copy and paste text on your Chromebook, you can either use the trackpad or the mouse and select the text. Then use some keyboard shortcuts or mouse clicks to copy and paste it where you want.

You just need to follow these simple steps to copy and paste text content on your Chromebook.

  1. On a trackpad, tap and hold one finger while dragging the mouse pointer with the other finger over the text you want to copy. Then release both fingers. The text should now be highlighted. If you are using a mouse, press the left mouse button and drag the cursor around the text to highlight it, then release.
    select some text
  2. To copy the text, you can either use CTRL +C on the keyboard (copies the text directly). Otherwise, simply press the right mouse button or tap the trackpad with two fingers to open the options and choose COPY from the menu.
     copy some text
  3. To paste the text where you want, you can either use CTRL +V on the keyboard (pastes the text directly). Otherwise, simply press the right mouse button or tap the trackpad with two fingers to open the options and choose PASTE from the menu.                       
    paste some text

The text will remain on the clipboard until you press Ctrl + C or COPY again, allowing you to paste the current text multiple times. Although Chrome OS does not copy the text formatting, you need to adjust the style accordingly.

How to Copy and Paste Files on Chromebook

You want to copy some local files to a new location, but you don’t know how to do it on your Chromebook. Don’t worry; just follow the steps below.

  1. Open the folder or location where the files are located. Then hover the mouse pointer over the items you want to copy and press the right-click button on your mouse or tap with two fingers on the trackpad to open the options menu. Select COPY from this menu or press CTRL+C on the keyboard to copy the items.copy files
  2. Navigate to the destination folder where you want to keep the copied files, and then either press CTRL +V on the keyboard or use the right-click key to open the options menu and paste the items.                                                                                                                               paste files

How to Copy and Paste a Full Web Page on Chromebook

If you need to copy the entire content of a particular web page, the following steps will help you. Everything will be copied, including headers, buttons, and other objects, but the layout won’t be preserved.

  1. Navigate to any part of the web page (except images) and then press CTRL +A on your keyboard. This will select or highlight all the content available on the web page.select web page contents
  2. Now simply press CTRL +C on your keyboard, and all the highlighted content will be copied to your clipboard.copy webpage contents
  3. Then navigate to where you want to paste the content and press CTRL +V on your keyboard. This will paste all the copied content to the desired location. You can also right-click or tap two fingers on the trackpad to open the options menu, where you can select PASTE.

How to Copy and Paste Extensions on ChromeOS

Web extensions or URLs can be very helpful for sharing content and information quickly. ChromeOS is a web-based operating system, so most of the work is done in a web browser, in this case Google Chrome.

You can follow the steps below to copy and paste extensions or URLs on your Chromebook.

Copying an Image URL

  1. Hover your mouse over the image, then press the right-click on your mouse or tap with two fingers on the trackpad. Here, select Copy Image or Copy Image Address.                                                                                                        copy url of images
  2. Navigate to the area where you want to save the image or URL, and then press CTRL +V or PASTE from the options menu by right-clicking. The Copy Image option lets you copy media files, and the Copy Image Address option lets you embed the image in a blog or code.

Copying a Video URL

  1. Move the mouse pointer over the video and then press the right mouse button or tap the trackpad with two fingers. This will open the options menu where you select Copy video URL from here. copying video urls
  2. Navigate to the area where you want to keep the video or URL, and then press CTRL +V on the keyboard or PASTE in the options menu by right-clicking. The Copy Video URL option can be used to share the video on various online platforms.

Copying the URL of a Web Page

If you copy the URL of a web page, you can share it on different platforms or save it in a document to reference it.

  1. Open the website you want to share. Now navigate to your browser’s address bar, which is usually located at the top of your screen.select url
  2. Click on the address bar, and the full URL should be highlighted. If it is not highlighted by default, simply double-click on the URL or hold down the left mouse button and drag across the entire URL to select it.
  3. Now press either CTRL +C to copy the URL directly. Otherwise, you can press the right-click key or tap two fingers on the trackpad to open the options menu. Then choose COPY from the menu.                                                                                                                                 copy url
  4. To paste the URL where you want it, simply navigate to it and press CTRL +V on your keyboard or tap two fingers on the trackpad and choose PASTE.

How to copy and paste on Chromebook without a mouse?

The keyboard shortcuts for copying and pasting on ChromeOS are similar to those on Windows. You can use CTR+C to copy and CTRL+V to paste. To copy and paste the text without a mouse, first, select it (hold down the left trackpad button and drag the cursor to the end point), then press CTRL+C to copy and move to the desired location to paste, and press CTRL+V. You can also use CTRL+A to select all text on the page and then use CTRL+C and CTRL+V to copy and paste on Chromebook.

Different Ways to Copy and Paste on Chromebook

We have described several ways to copy and paste content on your Chromebook running ChromeOS. Different types of content may have different names for the copy-and-paste options, but the process is mostly the same.

You can follow the steps above to easily manage all the content on your Chromebook. Leave your suggestions below for other methods to copy and paste content on ChromeOS.

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