Users were immediately tempted to transfer data from one program (from one window) to another program (to another window).

Indeed, you have, for example, suitable text in Notepad format (say, with the .txt extension), and this text is quite suitable to be inserted into a prepared presentation (say, in PowerPoint format). Why not reprint it? The text is already there, but in a different format and in a different window, in a different program. I just want to somehow automatically transfer it to another window, to another program.

Or, for example, a PC user took a photo and saved it in a format (for example, with a .jpeg extension). And now you need to insert this photo in the form of a picture, for example, into Word text, in order to “decorate” the text, make a “picture book”. There are many similar examples when there is a desire to transfer data from one program (from one window) to another program (to another window). And if there are desires, then there must be appropriate opportunities.

How to make it possible to transfer absolutely any data from one program to another: texts, pictures, graphics, drawings, diagrams, and even video or audio, etc.?

Developers of operating systems came up with a rather original method that can be considered universal, suitable for transferring almost any data.

It is enough to select the data in one program to be transferred to another program and copy them to a special area. Then, in another program where the data should be transferred, you need to place the cursor in the place where the data should be placed, and then execute the procedure for pasting the data from this special area that was previously copied there.

By the way, the copy-paste procedure also works within one window, one program, if data needs to be copied from one place and pasted into another place in a text, presentation, etc.

Due to the outward simplicity of such a procedure for transferring data from one window to another, this procedure has received the slang name "copy-paste". The word "copy-paste" comes from two English words "copy-paste", which means "copy-paste".

A special area into which data is first copied and then restored (pasted) from there is called the "clipboard" (in English "clipboard", also translated as "clipboard").

Great idea: the user does not even have to think about what the clipboard is, how the selected data gets there, and then how this data is restored from the clipboard in the window of another program or in another place in the same program.

"Copy" or "Cut" and then "Paste" operations and the clipboard associated with these operations are standard functions of operating systems Windows, Mac OS or Android.

How the clipboard works in Windows, Mac, Android

As a rule, information gets into the clipboard when the user uses one of two operations:

"Copy" (hot keys Ctrl+C) or "Cut" (Ctrl + X).

And the user extracts information from the clipboard using the Paste operation (Ctrl+V).

Thus, the clipboard is an intermediate storage of information that occupies some part of the computer's RAM. RAM is designed for temporary storage of information.

The standard clipboard as part of the RAM is able to clear itself, for example, when the computer is turned off or when new information is placed there.

Screenshot, if in Windows it is done using the PrtScr button (short for Print Screen), then it also goes to the clipboard. And you can extract a screenshot from the clipboard using the “Paste” operation.

Copy and Paste Clipboard Operations

Many programs have menu items and "Copy" buttons, as well as menu items and "Paste" buttons.

As a rule, due to the frequent use of these items, these menu items are most often located in the main program menu, and the "Copy" and "Paste" buttons can be quite large and can be clearly visible (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. The "Paste" and "Copy" buttons in Microsoft Word

1 in fig. 1 - the "Copy" button in the Word program, which will be active only when the text (or picture) is selected, and, therefore, there is an object for copying and placing it on the clipboard,

2 in fig. 1 - "Insert" button.

Many context menus that appear when you right-click (RMB) on a selected fragment of a document (text, picture, etc.) have the "Copy" and "Paste" options, since these are often used actions of PC users when working with programs (Fig. 2).

Fig. Fig. 2. Context menu items "Copy" and "Paste Options" in Microsoft Word

The buttons "Copy" and "Paste" (1 and 2 in Fig. 1) are replaced by the context menu items with exactly the same names (1 and 2 in Fig. 2).

Is everything so simple?

Most often, the user uses copy and paste to transfer data from one place in the program to another place or from one program to another, without even thinking about how this is done. And in almost 100% of cases, an adequate result is obtained: data from one program is transferred without distortion to another program, or from one place they move to another within the same program.

But there may be exceptions. And then the use of the clipboard can lead to data distortion if you use the provided opportunities incorrectly. This rarely happens, but it can still happen. Let's analyze examples of "distortion" of data, or rather, examples of incorrect work with the clipboard.

Clipboard or deception buffer using Excel as an example

Excel spreadsheet users know that Excel cells can store not only numbers, but also formulas for calculating them. And in the cells themselves, the data obtained as a result of calculations using these formulas is highlighted. Now imagine that we put the cursor in such a cell with a formula, click "Copy" and place the data on the clipboard.

Then put the cursor in another free cell and click "Insert". What should go into this free cell? The formula that was in the previous cell from which we copied the data to the clipboard? Or the number that was in the previous cell? If the formula, then the result of the insertion will be one (the inserted formula will work, and a number will appear in the cell, which is the result of the calculation by this formula). If a number is inserted, then the result of the insertion is a number that is completely equal to the one that was in the cell from which the copy was made.

It is clear that as a result in a new cell we can see either one number (if a formula is inserted) or another (if a number is inserted). This means that we can get both “correct” and “incorrect” results. That is, we will either get the exact answer from the clipboard, or we will get an inaccurate answer already from the “deception buffer”!

How not to make a mistake? You need to know WHAT is inserted from the clipboard in a particular program by default. It is to know. To do this, you need to read about it somewhere (in the help for the program, for example), or experiment on your own. If you don’t know, then you can get incorrect data, relying on the capabilities of not the clipboard, but the “deception buffer”!

In the Excel example above, experienced Excel users know that by default, a formula is inserted into a cell, not a value. If you still need to paste a value from the clipboard, and not a formula, then you need to use the additional paste menu, and select "Paste value" from it (number 1 in Fig. 3) or use "Paste Special" (number 2 in Fig. 3). 3 and fig. 4):

3. Inserting a value into a new cell (instead of a formula) (number 1) or using Paste Special (number 2)

If you click on the “Paste Special” option (2 in Fig. 3), then in the opened window with the same name we will get many options for pasting:

Pic. 4. The "Paste Special" window of the Excel program for selecting options for pasting the copied data from the clipboard into a new cell.

As we see in fig. 4 in a new cell, you can insert not only values ​​or formulas, but also data formats, formulas and values ​​along with formats, etc., as well as notes on cells, conditions on values, and, among other things, add additional operations for data processing.

This is how, on the one hand, you can finally get confused with the seemingly simple clipboard, with which ordinary users most often perform two operations “Copy” and “Paste”. On the other hand, you can get many additional features if these features are provided in the program that uses the clipboard.

About the Microsoft Office clipboard, including 2010, 2013, 2016

Expanded, advanced clipboard management features are offered in the Microsoft (abbreviated as MS) Office suite. This allows you to do the Clipboard program built into the MS Office package. (This package includes a set of programs: Word text editor, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, Access databases, and others).

Using the clipboard in MS Office, you can copy and paste not once and not over and over, but many times.

The clipboard can store up to 24 copies of text and graphic elements, which in turn can then be pasted all at once, either one at a time or otherwise.

Access to the clipboard capabilities, which is carried out from any program of the MS Office package, is shown below in fig. 5 on the example of Excel.

You can paste data from one clipboard into different office programs: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. Simply put, you can copy a picture once, after which it will be placed in the MS Office Clipboard program. Then this picture can be placed from the clipboard and into the Word editor, and into the Excel spreadsheet, and into the PowerPoint presentation.

Fig. 5. Clipboard in Excel

More about the clipboard for office 2010, in particular, about turning it on and off, about setting its visibility, information from the official website in Russian:

Copying and pasting several elements using the Office clipboard 2010

Official Microsoft website in Russian about the clipboard for Office 2013 and 2016:

Using the clipboard Office 2013, 2016

The Clipboard program in MS Office is otherwise called the clipboard manager. There are other special programs for operating systems, called clipboard managers, which are designed to extend the capabilities of the standard clipboard.

Returning to the standard features of the regular clipboard, which is in Windows, Mac OS or Android, we note that it saves the last data that was copied there.

If you copy to the clipboard several times in a row, then you can paste only the data that was copied there the last time, and all previous copies are automatically erased from the standard clipboard.

Thus, if you need to reuse the standard clipboard, you must immediately use the "Paste" operation after each "Copy" operation. Copying repeatedly in a row, and then repeatedly pasting in a row (even if it seems like a more convenient way to work), using the standard clipboard features, is impossible.

Clipboard in Word

There are special pastes not only in the rather complex and multifunctional Excel program, but also in the same Word (Fig. 6), as well as in many other programs. And this must be remembered if you actively use the clipboard so that it does not eventually turn into a "deception buffer".

Fig. 6.1. The “Paste” menu in Word

If you open the “Paste” menu in Word (1 in Fig. 6.1), and then click on the “Paste Special” option (2 in Fig. 6.1), you can see the offered options for pasting from the clipboard :

Fig. 6.2. Special paste from the clipboard in Microsoft Word

You can paste data directly, without the clipboard

And I would like to note the following. You can paste data into programs not only from the clipboard. Pictures can be inserted from files, texts can also be inserted from files, graphs and charts can be inserted into tables, and much, much more. There is nothing to do with the clipboard! And the "Paste" menu in the same Word (Fig. 7) also has nothing to do with pasting data from the clipboard, although this menu is written the same as the name of the "Paste" button, intended for pasting from the clipboard.

Fig. Figure 7. Paste menu in Microsoft Word that is NOT related to pasting from the clipboard

In fig. Figure 7 shows that in Word, the "Paste" menu, which is NOT associated with the clipboard, includes:

pages, tables, picture, clip, charts, footers, lettering, symbols etc.

Thus, using the clipboard, the PC user can paste data previously copied there from another place in the same program or from another program. And this is in no way connected with other possibilities for inserting other data, which, as we see, are also numerous.

What does "Clipboard contains a large fragment" mean?

After you finish working with programs, the last copied data remains on the clipboard. Even after closing the program from which the data was copied, this data will remain in the clipboard, and they can be used for pasting into other programs (into other windows).

If this data takes up a lot of space on the clipboard (for example, a large text, a three-dimensional picture, etc.) is copied, then when exiting the program, a warning may be issued that a large amount of information remains on the clipboard (Fig. 8) .

Fig. 8. Warning that a large amount of information remains on the clipboard.

In this case, the user must decide whether to leave this data or to "clean up" the clipboard at the same time as closing the program from which this data was copied.

1 in fig. 8 - if you click "Yes", then the data will remain in the clipboard, the Word program will be closed.

2 in fig. 8 - click on "No", the data will be deleted from the clipboard, Word will be closed.

3 in fig. 8 - if you click "Cancel", then nothing will change, because the user changed his mind about clearing the clipboard and closing Word.

The choice of which of the three buttons to select is up to the user.

If data is deleted from the clipboard, it can no longer be pasted into other programs. And if you leave it, then it will be possible to paste them, but at the same time, storing a large amount of data in the clipboard will require a lot of PC resources. Here the user must decide what he wants: save data to the clipboard or save RAM resources on his device for further work.

Don't forget! You can copy texts, pictures and other information from the Internet without specifying a link to the source only for personal use. If the copied information is re-posted on the Internet WITHOUT indicating a link to the source of information, then this is a violation of copyright and may lead to unpleasant consequences.

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