General Cut, Copy, and Paste in File Explorer in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you different ways to Cut, Copy, Paste, and Move items in File Explorer in Windows 11.

Windows 11 makes it easy to Cut, Copy, and Paste items in File Explorer and on your Desktop.

When you Cut or Copy an item, it is temporarily saved to the Clipboard.

When you Paste and item you cut, the contents of the Clipboard is used to move the item where you want.

When you Paste and item you copied, the contents of the Clipboard is used to duplicate the item where you want.

Cut

Copy

Paste







1 Select the item(s) you want to Cut or Copy.

2 Press the Ctrl + X (Cut) or Ctrl + C (Copy) keys to cut (move) or copy (duplicate) the selected item(s).

3 Navigate to the location where you want to Paste the selected item(s).

4 Press the Ctrl + V keys to Paste the selected item(s) at this location.

Starting with Windows 11 build 22631.3672, dragging-and-dropping files with your mouse between breadcrumbs in the File Explorer Address Bar. A breadcrumb shows the path to your current file location in the address bar.

1 Select the item(s) you want to Cut or Copy.

2 When you drag and drop items, they will get moved (cut) or copied based on the source and destination locations.

• If you drag and drop a file/folder from a location on one drive to another drive, then the default action will be to copy the file/folder to the drop location.
• If you drag and drop a file/folder from a local location to a network location, then the default action will be to copy the file/folder to the drop location.
• If you drag and drop a file/folder from or to a CD/DVD or Blu-ray, then the default action will always be to copy the file/folder to the drop location.
• If you drag and drop a file/folder from a location to another on the same drive, then the default action will be to move the file/folder to the drop location.
• If you drag and drop a file/folder to the Recycle Bin, then the default action will always be to move the file/folder to the drop location.

1 Select the item(s) you want to Copy or Move.

2 Right click on the selected items while you drag and drop them to the location you want to copy or move them, then release right click.

3 Click/tap on Copy here or Move here for what you want. (see screenshot below)







1 Open File Explorer (Win+E).

2 Select the item(s) you want to Cut or Copy. (see screenshot below step 3)

3 Click/tap on the Cut or Copy icon on the File Explorer command bar for what you want. (see screenshot below)


4 Navigate to the location in File Explorer where you want to Paste the selected item(s).

5 Click/tap on the Paste icon on the File Explorer command bar. (see screenshot below)






1 Select the item(s) you want to Cut or Copy. (see screenshot below step 2)

2 Right click on the selected item(s), and click/tap on the Cut or Copy icon on the context menu toolbar at the top for what you want. (see screenshot below)


3 Navigate to the location in File Explorer where you want to Paste the selected item(s).

4 Right click on an empty area at this location, and click/tap on the Paste icon on the context menu toolbar at the top. (see screenshot below)






1 Select the item(s) you want to Cut or Copy. (see screenshots below step 2)

2 Perform the following actions: (see screenshots below)

1. Right click on the selected item(s).
2. Click/tap on Show more options (Shift+F10)
3. Click/tap on Cut or Copy for what you want.

3 Navigate to the location in File Explorer where you want to Paste the selected item(s).

4 Perform the following actions: (see screenshots below)

1. Right click on an empty area at this location.
2. Click/tap on Show more options (Shift+F10)
3. Click/tap on Paste.

1 Select the item(s) you want to Copy.

2 Copy the selected items.

3 Right click on the location you want to paste shortcuts of the copied selected items, and click/tap on Paste shortcut. (see screenshot below)

The xcopy command copies files and directories, including subdirectories.

1 For usage, see:

The move command moves one or more files from one directory to another directory.

1 For usage, see:



That's it,
Shawn Brink