How to Copy and Paste on Your iPhone or iPad

1
Tap and hold on a word.^{[1]
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Expert Source

Luigi Oppido
Computer & Tech Specialist
Expert Interview. 31 July 2019.} This activates a window that magnifies the area you've tapped and causes a flashing cursor to appear.
- If you'd like the cursor in a different location, just drag your finger over the text until it's in the location you'd like it to be.
2
Lift your finger. A menu of buttons will pop up, and blue left and right control points will appear on either side of the highlighted text.

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3
Tap Select. Doing so highlights the word in which the cursor is flashing.^{[2]
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Expert Source

Luigi Oppido
Computer & Tech Specialist
Expert Interview. 31 July 2019.}
- Tap Select All if you'd like to highlight all the text on the page.
- Use Look Up to find the definition of a word.
4
Highlight your selection. Use the control points to drag the highlight over the text you wish to copy.^{[3]
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Expert Source

Luigi Oppido
Computer & Tech Specialist
Expert Interview. 31 July 2019.}
5
Tap Copy. The buttons will disappear, and the highlighted text has been copied to your device's clipboard.
6
Tap a text field. Locate the place where you'd like to paste the text, whether in a different part of the current document, a new document, or a different app, and tap it with your finger.^{[4]
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Expert Source

Luigi Oppido
Computer & Tech Specialist
Expert Interview. 31 July 2019.}
7
Tap Paste. This button will appear above the place where you tapped. The text you copied will be inserted.
- The "Paste" option will not appear unless there is something stored in your device's clipboard from a "Copy" or "Cut" command.
- You can't paste into un-editable documents, like most web pages.

Method 2

Method 2 of 4:

In the Messages App

1
Tap and hold on a text bubble. Doing so opens two menus. The one at the bottom of the screen is the "Copy" menu.
- The menu that opens immediately above the text bubble allows you to post a quick reaction to the message. The reaction icons are:
  - Heart (love).
  - Thumbs up.
  - Thumbs down.
  - "HaHa".
  - "!!".
  - "?".
- To copy from the active text field (where you're currently typing a message), refer to Method 1.
2
Tap Copy. It's in the menu at the bottom of the screen. This will copy all of the text in the text bubble.
3
Tap a text field. Locate the place where you'd like to paste the text, whether in a different part of the current document, a new document, or a different app, and tap it with your finger.
4
Tap Paste. This button will appear above the place where you tapped. The text you copied will be inserted.

Method 3

Method 3 of 4:

From Apps and Documents

1
Tap and hold on a picture. The picture can be from a message you received, a website, or a document. Doing so opens a pop-up menu.
2
Tap Copy. If the image can be copied, Copy will be one of the menu options.
- Images from many websites, documents, and social media apps can be copied, but not always.
3
Tap and hold the location where you want to paste the image. Do so in an app that allows you to paste images, such as Messages, Mail, or Notes.
4
Tap Paste. Now you've pasted the copied image into the selected location.^{[5]
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Research source}

Method 4

Method 4 of 4:

From the Photos App

1
Open Photos. It's a white app containing a flower made from the color spectrum.
- If you don't see a grid of thumbnail pictures on your screen, tap Albums in the lower-right corner and tap an album to select it.
2
Tap a photo. Select the photo you want to copy and hold it until it expands to fill the window.
3
Tap the "Share" button. It's a blue, rectangular icon that contains an upward-pointing arrow.
- On iPhone it's in the lower-left corner; on iPad it's in the upper-right corner,
4
Tap Copy. It's a gray icon in the lower-left corner of the screen that looks like two overlapping rectangles.
5
Tap and hold the location where you want to paste the image. Do so in an app that allows you to paste images, such as Messages, Mail, or Notes.
6
Tap Paste. Now you've pasted the copied image into the selected location.

Expert Q&A
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Question

How do I copy and paste a website link?

Luigi Oppido
Computer & Tech Specialist
Luigi Oppido is the Owner and Operator of Pleasure Point Computers in Santa Cruz, California. Luigi has over 25 years of experience in general computer repair, data recovery, virus removal, and upgrades. He is also the host of the Computer Man Show! broadcasted on KSQD covering central California for over two years.

Luigi Oppido

Computer & Tech Specialist

Expert Answer

Support wikiHow by unlocking this expert answer.

Go up to the top of a website and click once on the website link in the address bar. When you click on it once, most browsers will highlight the whole long. Once you have the entire URL highlighted, click copy on the toolbar.
Question

How can I forward a website address sent to me in Messages?

Community Answer

Tap and hold on the address and a you'll see a pop up saying "copy". Tap "copy" and then tap on an empty space and hold and a sign will come up saying "paste". Tap that and whatever you copied will appear.
Question

How do you change text size?

Community Answer

Open tabs in this order: Settings>General>Accessibility>Larger Text. There should be a slider that allows you to adjust the size to your preference.

Warnings

Be careful if you are copying both images and words. If you accidentally paste an image into a text area, it will paste the code for the image, not the image itself. Use the control points on highlighted areas to avoid images..

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Not all websites allow you to copy the text or images shown.

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