This post talks briefly about how you can easily copy and paste on your Mac. The Mac on which you are trying to Copy and Paste can be any computer including Mac Pro , Mac Air, or any other Mac Laptop or Desktop Computer. The steps required to do Copy and Paste Remains the same in all the Mac Versions. Yes the steps required to do Copy and Paste are the same whether you are using Mac Mountain Lion, Mac Lion, Mac Snow Leopard or any other version of Mac OS X.
Copy and Paste on a Mac can be done using Keyboard or Mouse or a combination of steps including Mouse and Keyboard input to Mac. To start with the Copy & Paste, you first need to select the text, image or any other file(s) which you want to copy. The selection of text or file(s) can again be done using Keyboard or Mouse. In order to select text or file(s) with Keyboard, you can use the Arrow Keys or just drag your mouse cursor over the text / file(s) you want to copy and paste. Once you have copied the required data (text / files(s)), you need to tell Mac that this is the stuff i want to copy and paste it somewhere else.
Once you have selected the text in a text editor, file(s) in finder or desktop, image area in an image editor, etc, you would need to issue the copy command. The Copy Command on Mac can be issued by holding the Command Key and press the keyboard Key C on Keyboard, Right Click and select the Copy Menu Item or from the Menu of the respective application navigate to Edit Menu and Select the Copy Menu Item. This Copy Command on Mac OS X tells the respective application that this is the stuff i need to paste somewhere else and hence this should be stored in the clipboard. The Application in which you have initiated the Copy command stores the data identifiable information to clipboard whenever you initiate the Copy Command. When you issue next copy command later while using your Mac, the application removes the old data from clipboard and stores new information to clipboard. Text (such as words from TextEdit), Files (selected from Finder or from Desktop), Image Area (Partial image from a bigger image) all are different types of data and clipboard maintains separate types of data in separate locations.
Now in order to complete the Copy and Paste function on your Mac, you would need to navigate to the location where you want to paste the copied contents. In case you have copied some files from finder and you want to store them to a USB drive, navigate to the USB drive using Keyboard / Mouse combination and issue a paste command while the focus is on the Finder. This Paste command can be issued in a similar way as the copy command was issued using either right click on empty space in finder, Command + V key on Keyboard or from Edit Menu of Finder. Similarly text from TextEdit or any other Text Editor can be pasted to another Text File and so on.
Copy and Paste on Mac is a really useful functionality and is used for data backup, data duplication, etc. Try Keyboard and Mouse both for doing copy and paste or carrying out any other task on your Mac OS X. There is another related command which is named as Cut and is similar to the Copy Command. The Cut Command is issued using Command + X Key on Mac Keyboard or using Context Menu or Menu Item from the Application Menu. Instead of leaving the original data intact, the cut command marks the data to be deleted on the issue of Paste Command. As Outlined in Mac Tips and Tricks, almost anything can be done on a Mac OS X using Keyboard and Mouse and all you need to do is read the appropriate instructions, use mouse left and right clicks appropriately and look for application specific menu. How to Copy & Paste on Mac post might sounds a little bit longer, but it does tries to cover the basics and advanced concepts about one of the most useful commands (Copy, Paste and Cut) on Mac.