Cut, Copy, Paste, and Undo

Cut, Copy, Paste, and Undo are standard operations in Windows and Microsoft Office. They work inside an Access database in the same way that they work in Word or Excel but you can do much more with them in Access.

Using Cut, Copy, Paste, and Undo

Like Word and most other Windows applications, the user interface gives you four ways of calling these operations. You can use:

• Buttons on the toolbar.
• Options on the Edit menu.
• Options on the short-cut menu that appears when you right-click.
• CTRL+X, CTRL+C, CTRL+V, and CTRL+Z keyboard shortcuts.

Where to use them

The short answer is - 'Almost anywhere'.

In a table

You can cut, copy, and paste:

• part of a field.
• a whole field.
• several fields.
• an entire record.

Note that you can undo changes to a single record but you cannot undo a deleted record.

Use Paste Append from the Edit menu to paste a new record into a table.

On a form or report

Use copy and paste to create a duplicate of an existing control - especially if you've put some effort into formatting the original and you need another one that looks exactly the same.

Note that the new control will have the same properties as the original but none of the VBA code in the methods will be copied.

Use Undo:

• if you've made a mistake changing the size or position of a control.
• to restore a control you've deleted.
• to undo a change to the appearance of a control.

In the Database Window

Use copy and paste to make a backup copy of a form or report before modifying it.