What’s the Best Way to Copy and Paste?

Quite often in class, and in actual development, you’ve made something super awesome on the slide, and you need more of it. This could be buttons, shapes, markers, text boxes–you name it! And shortcuts are a great way to cut down development time. Make it once, make sure it works and looks the way you expect it to, then DUPLICATE it! One of our trainers even has the catch phrase, “Make it great, then duplicate!”

During the training, we must copy and paste a thousand times! Okay, maybe that’s exaggerating a little bit, but seriously…we copy and paste a lot! And inevitably, I get the question, “What’s the best way to copy and paste in Storyline 360?”

Well, there’s not a “best” way. It all depends on which way works best and faster for you. But with that said, I usually follow it up with, “Did you know there are six ways to copy and paste?”

“There are six ways to copy and paste?!”

That’s right! And with these cool tips that work in Storyline 360 AND in Microsoft Office, you’re going to get even faster at development!

 

1. Menu

Once you have an item created AND selected, click on the Home tab, and you’ll see the very first group of commands.

 

2. Right-Click

Right-click the item you want to copy. Then right-click to paste it.

Your Paste Options might be different depending on what you’ve copied, but here’s a way to think of them:

• Use Destination Theme: This option is used when you want to apply the font, size, and color from your destination location to the text effects (i.e., bold, italic, or underline) used in the source document.
• Keep Source Formatting: This option is used when you want to keep all of the original formatting (i.e. text effects as well as font and size) on the text or object you want to paste.
• Keep Text Only: This option is used when you want to remove all of the original formatting from the selected text when you paste it.

The Keep Text Only is my personal go-to if I’m copying text from PowerPoint or Word and inserting it into Storyline 360. That way, it strips the formatting and matches my theme in Storyline 360!

 

3. Ctrl + C (Copy) then Ctrl + V (Paste)

If a shortcut were to win a popularity contest, this would be the one! Most folks have heard of this one and use it all the time.

 

4. Ctrl + D (Duplicate)

This one takes a step away from the Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V and does it all with one keyboard shortcut!

 

5. Ctrl + Drag

No, there is no “drag” key on your keyboard, but check this out… With the item you want to copy selected (not just the text inside the object), hold down the Control key. Your mouse should then look something like this:

Then drag the item exactly where you want your copy to go, and drop it. Your new item will be there! Once you’re finished, just let go of the Control key.

 

6. Ctrl + Shift + Drag (My Personal Favorite)

This works almost the exact same way as Ctrl+Drag. The difference is that by adding the Shift key, the copied item maintains alignment and can only be placed either exactly vertical or horizontal to the original item. And when you like straight lines like I do, that can be a bonus! Take a look at it in action:

Summary

So, give those shortcuts a try in Storyline 360 or in PowerPoint! Your boss will love you for it because you’ll get your courses done faster and have the time to take that primo vacation you’ve been waiting for!

“I don’t call it a shortcut. I call it being efficient!” Anonymous

 

 

 

~Stefanie