You will rarely write a perfect document that doesn’t require any editing. You will almost always want to insert a word or two, change a phrase, or move text from one place to another. You can edit a document as you create it, or you can write it first and then revise it. Or you might want to edit a document that you created for one purpose so that it will serve a different purpose. For example, you might change a cover letter for a job application to make it applicable to a different job opening.
Inserting text is easy; you click to position the insertion point, and begin typing. Any existing text to the right of the insertion point moves to make room for the new text.
Deleting text is equally easy. If you want to delete only one or a few characters, you can position the insertion point and then press the Delete key until the characters are all gone. Pressing Delete (the key at the right end of the row of number keys) deletes the character to the left of the insertion point; pressing Del (the key in the separate block of keys to the right of the Return key) deletes the character to the right of the insertion point.
To delete, format, move, or copy more than a few characters efficiently, you need to know how to select the text. Selected text appears highlighted on the screen. You can select specific items as follows:
To select a word, double-click it. Word selects the word and the space following it. It does not select punctuation following a word.
To select a sentence, click anywhere in the sentence while holding down the Command key. Word selects all the characters in the sentence, from the first character through the space following the ending punctuation mark.
To select a paragraph, triple-click it.
You can select adjacent characters, words, lines, or paragraphs by positioning the insertion point at the beginning of the text you want to select, holding down the Shift key, and then pressing the Arrow keys or clicking at the end of the text that you want to select. To select words, lines, or paragraphs that are not adjacent, select the first block of text, and then hold down the Command key while selecting additional blocks.
As an alternative, you can use the selection area to quickly select various items. This is an invisible area in the document’s left margin, where the pointer changes to a right-pointing arrow. You can use the selection area as follows:
To select a line, click the selection area to the left of the line.
To select a paragraph, double-click the selection area to the left of the paragraph.
To select an entire document, triple-click anywhere in the selection area.
To select a paragraph, move the pointer to the selection area in the left margin of the document and then double-click.
Tip
To release selected text, click in the document window anywhere other than in the selected text or selection area.
You can use the keyboard shortcuts described in the following table to select text and document content.
To select... | Press... |
|---|---|
Multiple items that are not next to each other | Select the first item, press and hold the Command key, and then select the other items |
One character to the right | Shift+Right Arrow |
One character to the left | Shift+Left Arrow |
One word to the right | Shift+Option+Right Arrow |
One word to the left | Shift+Option+Left Arrow |
To the end of a line | Shift+End or Command+Shift+Right Arrow |
To the beginning of a line | Shift+Home or Command+Shift+Left Arrow |
One line down | Shift+Down Arrow |
One line up | Shift+Up Arrow |
To the end of a paragraph | Command+Shift+Down Arrow |
To the beginning of a paragraph | Command+Shift+Up Arrow |
One screen down | Shift+Page Down |
One screen up | Shift+Page Up |
To the beginning of a document | Command+Shift+Home |
To the end of a document | Command+Shift+End |
To the end of a window | Command+Shift+Option+Page Down |
The entire document | Command+A |
You can move or copy selected text to another area of the document, to another document, or to another Microsoft Office file, such as a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation.
To move or copy text only a short distance—for example, within a paragraph or line—use drag-and-drop editing (frequently referred to simply as dragging). Start by selecting the text. Then hold down the mouse button, drag the text to its new location, and release the mouse button. To copy the selection to the new location, hold down the Option key while you drag.
Use the Clipboard, Scrapbook, or Spike when you need to move or copy text between two locations that you cannot see at the same time—for example, between pages or between documents. Each of these temporary storage areas has a different purpose, which we explain in detail in this section. Here’s an overview:
To copy content from one location to another, you select the content you want to copy and then copy it to the Clipboard or Scrapbook. You then position the insertion point where you want to insert the clipping, and paste it from the Clipboard or Scrapbook.
To move content from one location to another, you select the content you want to move and then cut it to the Clipboard. Then you position the insertion point in the location in which you want to insert the clipping, and paste it from the Clipboard.
To move a series of noncontiguous content from multiple locations to another location, you cut each item you want to move to the Spike. When you have collected all the content you want to move, you position the insertion point where you want to insert the content collection, and then paste it from the Spike.
When you cut or copy information from a Word document, PowerPoint presentation, Microsoft Excel worksheet, or Microsoft Entourage item, it is temporarily placed as a clipping on the Clipboard. You can paste the most recent clipping from the Clipboard into any of these Office documents (even a document that’s in a program other than the one from which you took the clipping). You can’t view the Clipboard contents.
You can cut to or copy to and paste from the Clipboard by using the commands on the Edit menu, or you can use the keyboard shortcuts described in the following table.
To... | Press... |
|---|---|
Copy a selection to the Clipboard | F3 or Command+C |
Copy a selection to the Scrapbook | Command+Shift+C |
Copy a selection to another location | Shift+F2, then click the target location and press Return |
Cut a selection to the Clipboard | F2 or Command+X |
Cut a selection to the Spike | Command+F3 |
Paste the current clipping from the Clipboard | F4 or Command+V |
Paste the selected clipping from the Scrapbook | Command+Shift+V |
Paste the Spike contents | Command+Shift+F3 |
If you want to store a clipping for later reuse, you can copy it to the Scrapbook, or insert the most recent clipping from the Clipboard into the Scrapbook. You can view saved clippings and files from the Scrapbook, which is part of the Toolbox.
You can assign each clipping stored in the Scrapbook to a category and associate keywords to help you organize and locate scraps (clippings and files stored in the Scrapbook). If you’ve created one or more projects in the Microsoft Project Center, you can also associate clippings with a project. These clippings appear on the Clippings tab of the Project Center, in Entourage.
You can copy to and paste from the Scrapbook by using the commands on the Edit menu or in the Scrapbook, or you can use these keyboard shortcuts:
To copy a selection to the Scrapbook, press Shift+Command+C.
To paste the most recent clipping from the Scrapbook into an Office document, press Shift+Command+V.
Note that the Scrapbook-related commands work only when the Scrapbook is open.
You can copy items and files to the Scrapbook by clicking the Add arrow in the Scrapbook and then, in the list, clicking Add Selection, Add File, or Add From Clipboard. (To automatically add all copied clippings to the Scrapbook, click Always Add Copy). You can paste a clipping from the Scrapbook into an Office document by selecting the clipping and then clicking the Paste button.
When you’re working in Word, you can cut content from a document to the Spike (a dynamic AutoText entry that stores content until you empty it), and then later insert the Spike contents elsewhere. The Spike can store text, graphics, WordArt, and other elements, with the exception of structural elements, such as tables. You can’t view the Spike contents.
You can cut to and paste from the Spike by using these keyboard shortcuts:
To cut a selection to the Spike, press Command+F3.
To paste all the collected content from the Spike into a document, press Shift+Command+F3.
If you make a change to a document and then realize that you made a mistake, you can easily reverse the change. You can undo your last editing action by clicking the Undo button on the Standard toolbar. To undo multiple actions (up to 16), click the Undo arrow and then click the earliest action you want to undo. (Clicking an action will undo that action and all the actions that followed it; these will then move to the Redo list.)
Tip
You can return to the last three locations in which you entered or edited text by pressing Shift+F5.
If you undo one or more actions and then change your mind, you can click the Redo button on the Standard toolbar, or select from the Redo list the actions you want to revert.