If you have been using computers with Windows for a long time, we always tend to remember each of the shortcuts, commands and tools that it has and that we learned unconsciously.

But what happens if we were to buy a Mac computer? Of course, at some point someone has thought of having one, but what about all those things and habits that we learned in Windows? Will we be able to copy and paste documents and images like we used to do? Or do you have another way to do it? Yes, there are certain things that are different on Mac. Despite the fact that they are different operating systems, it can be a bit difficult to understand and get used to, although you should know that they are handled almost the same.

For this reason, in this article we will explain how to easily copy and paste text and images on Apple Mac computers, as well as several quick commands and shortcuts so that you can do it. Below we will provide several methods for you to learn a little more about these computers and familiarize yourself with each function.

Quick commands and shortcuts to copy and paste on a Mac computer

Sometimes we think that it can be quite complicated to use a Mac computer, but it is not as difficult as it seems, you just have to learn how to use it and remember the keyboard commands and mouse functions, so that you can quickly carry out these shortcuts.

With the keyboard
You should know that Mac has two different ways to copy and paste documents and images, one of them is with certain key combinations where you can perform actions that normally require a mouse, a trackpad or any other device. In this part we will show you how you can do it using the keyboard.

The first thing you should know is that you can use the computer keyboard to open the system menu and copy and paste documents.
To do this you are going to press the combination of the keys “Command + C” to duplicate the content.

In turn, you can press the ‘Command + V’ keys after copying a text to be able to paste it in the destination location.

With the mouse

The second way to easily copy and paste is with the mouse of your Mac computer. To use it you must go to the Apple menu > System Preferences > Mouse. To do it for this input device, you will have to do the following.

First of all, you should know that to copy and paste with the mouse of your Mac computer, you will have to know if it has one or two buttons.

If you have two, you will have to right-click on the document you want and then a menu will appear, where you must select the “Copy” or “Paste” option.

What do I do if the copy and paste function doesn’t work on Mac?

Possibly you may have tried all the options described above to copy and paste on your Mac computer but for some reason it has not worked and you want to know what to do. Well, we will tell you so that you can solve the problem.

With Activity Monitor
Although it seems unusual, sometimes it can happen that the copy and paste action hangs. Which is a bit uncomfortable and annoying, since it is a function widely used by users. If it has presented you with errors, this time we will use one of the ways to make it work quickly. This is the activity monitor, which is located in the applications folder.

What we have to do is relaunch this function, that is, force it to close and open again. This action resolves almost all stuck clipboard or other problems.

From the Finder, you must access “Applications/utilities” or from “Spotlight”, accessing with the “Command + Space bar”, there you will have to type “Activity Monitor”. After it is open, in the box you must type : “pboard”.

Select the pboard option and click on the X located in the upper left.
You will get a window that will tell you if you want to stop the process. You will proceed to press ‘Force exit’ and that’s it.

Through Terminal

This is the second way to do it, using the “Through the terminal” option where you will have to look in the applications folder in (Spotlight) for the option called “Terminal”. You will then need to access it in order to make the paste and copy option work on your computer.

Once the applications folder is open, as mentioned in the previous section, you must locate the “Terminal” application.
There you must type“Killall pboard”.
In this simple way you can now exit the option called ‘Through the terminal’. If for some reason neither of the above two ways help you, you will need to restart your Mac computer.