Copy and Paste on Your iPhone or iPad

This article teaches you how to duplicate text or images in one location and insert them elsewhere on your iPhone or iPad.

Steps

Copying and Pasting Text

  1. Tap and hold on a word. This activates a window that magnifies the area you've tapped and causes a flashing cursor to appear.
    • If you'd like the cursor in a different location, just drag your finger over the text until it's in the location you'd like it to be.
  2. Lift your finger. A menu of buttons will pop up, and blue left and right control points will appear on either side of the highlighted text.
  3. Tap Select. Doing so highlights the word in which the cursor is flashing.
    • Tap Select All if you'd like to highlight all the text on the page.
    • Use Look Up to find the definition of a word.
  4. Highlight your selection. Use the control points to drag the highlight over the text you wish to copy.
  5. Tap Copy. The buttons will disappear, and the highlighted text has been copied to your device's clipboard.
  6. Tap a text field. Locate the place where you'd like to paste the text, whether in a different part of the current document, a new document, or a different app, and tap it with your finger.
  7. Tap Paste. This button will appear above the place where you tapped. The text you copied will be inserted.
    • The "Paste" option will not appear unless there is something stored in your device's clipboard from a "Copy" or "Cut" command.
    • You can't paste into un-editable documents, like most web pages.

Copying and Pasting in the Messages App

  1. Tap and hold on a text bubble. Doing so opens two menus. The one at the bottom of the screen is the "Copy" menu.
    • The menu that opens immediately above the text bubble allows you to post a quick reaction to the message. The reaction icons are:
      • Heart (love).
      • Thumbs up.
      • Thumbs down.
      • "HaHa".
      • "!!".
      • "?".
    • To copy from the active text field (where you're currently typing a message), refer to Method 1.
  2. Tap Copy. It's in the menu at the bottom of the screen. This will copy all of the text in the text bubble.
  3. Tap a text field. Locate the place where you'd like to paste the text, whether in a different part of the current document, a new document, or a different app, and tap it with your finger.
  4. Tap Paste. This button will appear above the place where you tapped. The text you copied will be inserted.

Copying and Pasting Images from Apps and Documents

  1. Tap and hold on a picture. The picture can be from a message you received, a website, or a document. Doing so opens a pop-up menu.
  2. Tap Copy. If the image can be copied, Copy will be one of the menu options.
    • Images from many websites, documents, and social media apps can be copied, but not always.
  3. Tap and hold the location where you want to paste the image. Do so in an app that allows you to paste images, such as Messages, Mail, or Notes.
  4. Tap Paste. Now you've pasted the copied image into the selected location.[1]

Copying and Pasting Images from the Photos App

  1. Open Photos. It's a white app containing a flower made from the color spectrum.
    • If you don't see a grid of thumbnail pictures on your screen, tap Albums in the lower-right corner and tap an album to select it.
  2. Tap a photo. Select the photo you want to copy and hold it until it expands to fill the window.
  3. Tap the "Share" button. It's a blue, rectangular icon that contains an upward-pointing arrow.
    • On iPhone it's in the lower-left corner; on iPad it's in the upper-right corner,
  4. Tap Copy. It's a gray icon in the lower-left corner of the screen that looks like two overlapping rectangles.
  5. Tap and hold the location where you want to paste the image. Do so in an app that allows you to paste images, such as Messages, Mail, or Notes.
  6. Tap Paste. Now you've pasted the copied image into the selected location.

Tips

  • Some graphics applications will recognize an image on your clipboard, and give you a menu option to paste the image when you create a new document.

Warnings

  • Not all websites allow you to copy the text or images shown.
  • Be careful if you are copying both images and words. If you accidentally paste an image into a text area, it will paste the code for the image, not the image itself. Use the control points on highlighted areas to avoid images..

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/ipad_user_guide.pdf
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