“Copy”, “Cut” and “Paste”
In Excel we can “Cut”, “Copy” and “Paste” as in any other application from Microsoft.
This can be done in the same worksheet, or to another worksheet, and even to another workbook.

To move data we use the command “Cut”.
First select the cell or cell range, and click the “Cut” button in the “Ribbon”.
Or, the quickest way is to select the range and click Ctrl X on your keyboard.
The selected copied cells will surrounded by “moving ants”.

The data is temporarily stored on the “Clipboard”, you will see what this is in a later lesson.
Select the cell where you want to paste the data and click the “Paste” button in the “Ribbon”.
Or, the quickest way is to select the cell and click Ctrl V on your keyboard.

When we “Cut” data, we can only paste once.
When we copy data, we can paste multiple times.

To copy we click the “Copy” button in the “Ribbon”, or use the Ctrl C on your keyboard.
Select a cell on your “Worksheet” and click “Paste” from the ‘Ribbon”, or use Ctrl V on your keyboard.
If you want to repeat this at another location in the worksheet, repeat the last command.

Unlike the “Cut” command, the “moving ants” around the selection will continue to appear.
In order to remove these, use the Enter key after the last “Paste” command, or click the Esc-key on your keybord.

“Paste” options
By default, a “Paste” option button appears when we paste data.
When we click this we have the following choices:

1. “Keep Source Formatting”:
   preserves the formatting of the information that was cut or copied.
2. “Use Destination Theme”:
   uses the theme of the destination instead of the source theme.
3. “Match Destination Formatting”:
   Retains the layout of the destination.
4. “Values and Number Formatting”:
   Retains only the formatting of numbers and values, eg currency and no decimal text color etc.
5. “Keep Source Columns Width”: 
   This seems to be clear.
6. “Formatting Only”:
   This pastes only the formatting of the cell (s) and not the data.
7. “Link Cells”:
   Links the destination cell to the source cell, for example copy cell E4 with a value of 1000, not 1000 then in the destination cell enter (= E4).

If this option button is getting on your nerves you can disable it in the “Excel Options” dialog box.
Just click the “Office’ button, choose the “Advanced” tab, Uncheck the box for “Show Paste Options buttons”.

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