Select, move and delete text — Word

Before you can tidy up a document you need to be able to grab hold of the right bit of it. By the end of this page you will be able to select exactly the text you mean, move it, delete it, and undo it if you change your mind.

Almost everything you do in Word starts the same way: you tell Word which text you mean by selecting it, and then you do something to that selection - make it bold, delete it, move it, or replace it by typing over it. Selection is the skill underneath all the others.

There are quicker ways to select than dragging the mouse across every letter. Double-clicking a word selects that whole word. Triple-clicking anywhere in a paragraph selects the whole paragraph. Once something is selected, cutting takes it away and copying leaves it in place but remembers it, so that pasting can put it somewhere else.

The Clipboard group on the Home tab. Cut and Copy both live here on the Home tab; Paste puts whatever you last cut or copied at your cursor.

The Clipboard group
Cut removes and remembers
Paste drops it back in

Try it yourself

Click just before a word and drag across it to the end, then let go.
This is click-and-drag selection - the most basic way to choose exactly the text you want, letter by letter if you need to.
Double-click a single word.
Word selects the whole word for you in one movement, which is quicker and more accurate than dragging over short words.
Triple-click anywhere inside a paragraph.
This selects the entire paragraph at once, useful when you want to move or delete a whole chunk of writing.
With something selected, press Ctrl+X, click where you want it to go, and press Ctrl+V.
Ctrl+X is cut, which removes the text but keeps a copy ready to place elsewhere. Ctrl+V is paste, which drops that copy in at your cursor.
Try Ctrl+C instead of Ctrl+X, then paste in a new spot.
Ctrl+C is copy - it leaves the original text exactly where it was and simply repeats it wherever you paste.
If a paste brings unwanted formatting with it, use the small clipboard icon that appears afterwards and choose Keep Text Only.
This is 'paste as plain text' - it strips away the other document's fonts and colours so the pasted text matches what is already on your page.

Words people use

Select

To highlight text so that Word knows exactly what your next action should apply to.

Cut

Remove selected text and hold it in memory so it can be placed elsewhere.

Copy

Duplicate selected text in memory without removing the original.

Paste

Place cut or copied text at the position of your cursor.

Undo

Ctrl+Z - step backwards and reverse your most recent action.

These few moves - drag, double-click, triple-click, cut, copy, paste and undo - cover the vast majority of everyday editing. Once they feel automatic, formatting and layout become far easier, because you will already be comfortable choosing exactly what you are working on.

Check yourself

If you can say yes to each of these, you are ready for the next lesson.

I can select a word, a sentence, or a paragraph without dragging letter by letter
I know the difference between cut and copy
I can paste text as plain text when I do not want its old formatting
I can use Ctrl+Z to undo a mistake