Galaxy S II: The Missing Manual

Copying and Pasting Text

WHAT’S A COMPUTER WITHOUT the ability to cut, copy, and paste? A computer at heart, the Galaxy S II lets you do all that, even though it has no mouse. For example, you can copy directions from Google Maps into an email to send to a friend, paste contact information into a note to yourself, and so on.

You copy and paste text using the same basic techniques you use on a PC or a Mac. You select it, and then copy or cut, and then paste it.

There are two ways to select text in an input box. In the first, tap somewhere in the word or words you want to select and a small arrow cursor appears below the text. Then tap the cursor again and a menu appears above the word.

Here’s what you can do from this menu:

• Select word. Selects the current word by surrounding it by a pair of movable brackets, highlighting the word, and popping up a menu of choices you can make once you select the word. To extend the selection beyond the single word, move a bracket or both brackets. From the menu, you can now copy the word or words into the Clipboard, cut it (which also copies the word), or else paste the most recent selection from the Clipboard into the location. When you do that, it replaces the existing word. From the menu that appears, you can also view the Clipboard (see below for details). ...