MS Paint Copy Cut and Paste

Copy, Cut, and Paste are three of the most fundamental editing operations in MS Paint and in almost every software program. These actions allow parts of a drawing to be duplicated, moved, or transferred between different locations on the canvas or between different applications. Mastering these three actions greatly speeds up drawing and editing work.

Understanding the Three Actions

Copy

The Copy action duplicates a selected area and places an invisible copy of it on the Windows Clipboard. The original drawing remains unchanged on the canvas. The copied content stays on the Clipboard until something else is copied or the computer is restarted.

Cut

The Cut action removes a selected area from the canvas and places it on the Clipboard. The area left behind fills with Color 2 (usually white). Cutting is used to move elements from one location to another.

Paste

The Paste action places the content currently on the Clipboard onto the canvas. The pasted content appears in the top-left corner of the canvas as a floating selection, ready to be moved to the desired position.

Keyboard Shortcuts for Copy, Cut, and Paste

ActionKeyboard Shortcut
CopyCtrl + C
CutCtrl + X
PasteCtrl + V
Select AllCtrl + A

These shortcuts work in MS Paint as well as in Word, Excel, browsers, and virtually every other Windows application.

How to Copy a Part of a Drawing

  1. Select the area using the Rectangular Select or Free-Form Select tool
  2. Press Ctrl + C (or click Copy in the Clipboard group on the Home tab)
  3. Move to the desired location on the canvas
  4. Press Ctrl + V to paste
  5. The pasted copy appears as a floating selection in the top-left
  6. Click and drag it to the desired position
  7. Click outside the selection to place it permanently

Example: Draw a flower on the left side of the canvas. Select it, press Ctrl + C, then press Ctrl + V. Drag the copy to the right side of the canvas. Now two identical flowers appear — one on each side.

How to Cut and Move a Part of a Drawing

  1. Select the area using the Select tool
  2. Press Ctrl + X (or click Cut in the Clipboard group)
  3. The selected area is removed from the canvas and the space fills with white (Color 2)
  4. Press Ctrl + V to paste it
  5. Drag the pasted content to the new position
  6. Click outside to place it permanently

Pasting from Outside MS Paint

Content copied from outside MS Paint can also be pasted into it. This includes screenshots, images from websites, or pictures copied from other image editing programs.

Pasting a Screenshot into MS Paint

  1. Take a screenshot by pressing Print Screen (PrtScn) on the keyboard (this copies the entire screen) or press Alt + Print Screen to copy only the active window
  2. Open MS Paint
  3. Press Ctrl + V
  4. The screenshot pastes onto the MS Paint canvas
  5. Save the image in the desired format

This is one of the most popular real-world uses of MS Paint — capturing and saving screenshots for documentation, tutorials, or support requests.

Paste from File

MS Paint allows an image file stored on the computer to be pasted directly onto the current canvas:

  1. Click the File button at the top-left
  2. Wait — this option is actually found in the Clipboard group on the Home tab. Click the small arrow below the Paste button
  3. Click Paste from
  4. Browse to the image file on the computer
  5. Click Open
  6. The image from the file is pasted onto the current canvas as a floating selection

This is useful for combining two images together — paste one image file onto another canvas to merge them.

Duplicating Elements Quickly

A fast way to duplicate an element multiple times:

  1. Select the element
  2. Press Ctrl + C once
  3. Press Ctrl + V as many times as needed
  4. Each paste creates a new floating copy that can be positioned independently

Example: Draw a star, copy it, then paste it five times to create a row of five identical stars across the canvas. Position each one separately after pasting.

Copy the Entire Canvas

To copy everything on the canvas:

  1. Press Ctrl + A to select the entire canvas
  2. Press Ctrl + C to copy everything
  3. Open a new MS Paint file or another application
  4. Press Ctrl + V to paste the complete drawing

Common Mistakes with Copy, Cut, and Paste

  • Forgetting to make a selection first: Copy and Cut only work after selecting an area. Without a selection, pressing Ctrl + C copies the entire canvas.
  • Pasted content covers existing drawing: Move the pasted content immediately after pasting by dragging it before clicking outside.
  • White box appears around pasted content: Enable Transparent Selection in the Select dropdown to remove the white background from pasted elements.

Practical Exercise

  1. Draw a house shape on the left side of the canvas
  2. Select it using Rectangular Select
  3. Press Ctrl + C to copy
  4. Press Ctrl + V and drag the copy to the right side of the canvas
  5. Select a window on the house using Free-Form Select
  6. Press Ctrl + X to cut it
  7. Press Ctrl + V and paste it at a different position on the house
  8. Take a screenshot of the canvas using Print Screen and paste it into a new MS Paint file

Efficient use of copy, cut, and paste saves enormous amounts of time when creating complex drawings or annotating images.

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