LPL Creative Graphics Practicum : MS Paint : The Edit Menu

MS Paint : Menus
The Edit Menu

The Edit Menu is where you’ll find most of your commands that are useful for working within your file to make changes of one kind or another. As far as useful commands go, the Edit Menu is another "heavy hitter." You’ll definitely want to learn the shortcut keys for the commands on this menu.

Undo This is probably the most important single command to remember. Undo will remove the last change you made to the file. For instance, if the last thing you did was to draw a line with the Line Tool, selecting Edit ® Undo would remove the line. This is great when you screw up and want to call a "do-over." You’ll use Undo over and over again, I’m sure, as you’re learning how to place Ovals with precision using the Oval Shape tool, or make the Curve tool work how you want it to.
But be careful! Paint’s Undo feature only goes back one step. Everything else you did prior to the last step is set in stone. For example, if you just drew that line, and then accidentally clicked the mouse, creating another line, you’d only be able to use Undo to get rid of the last one. The only way to "back up" more than one step in Paint is to Exit without Save-ing, and then Open the file again. But if you do this, you’ll lose ALL the changes you made after the last time you saved. Therefore, smart Paint users will use Save frequently when working with their files, to preserve changes they’re sure they want to keep. Very smart Paint users will save multiple copies of their file with File ® Save As. As they work on it, if they change their mind, they can go back a few steps and not have to re-do a lot of repetitive work.
And if you’re not particularly smart, don’t worry; the lessons will get drilled into you the first time you lose a lot of work as a result of not following the recommended procedures.
One thing to be aware of: Undo can’t Undo everything. It works for the tool commands, but you can’t use Undo to undo a Save or Save As, for example.

Repeat Repeat is like the reverse of Undo. It will re-apply the last change that you made to the file you’re working on. It doesn’t seem to be a useable option most of the time, however. You’ll find that it’s grayed out most of the time, and not a particularly useful feature.

Cut, Copy, Paste Cut, along with Copy, and Paste are some of the most useful commands in Paint. These are used in conjunction with the Selection tools. First, use either the rectangular or freeform Selection tool to select a portion of the image. The Cut command will remove the selection from the image, just as though you cut it out with a pair of scissors or an x-acto knife. The Cut portion of the image is not gone, however. It is stored in the computer’s copy buffer, where it can be retained temporarily. Copy works much like Cut, in that it places the selected portion of the image into the copy buffer, but it does not remove the selection from where it originally appears in the image. Paste is how you get stuff out of the copy buffer and back onto the image; it "pastes" the contents of the copy buffer back into the image, where you can move it around before deselecting it.
Cut and Paste are good for moving bits of an image around.
Copy and Paste are good for duplicating portions of an image to create a motif or pattern or collage-like effect.

Clear Selection Clear Selection is also used in conjunction with the Selection tools. When you use Clear Selection, whatever is in the selection will be deleted. It’s a little trickier than simply using the eraser and zoom, and less precise, but it’s quicker.

Select All This command automatically selects the entire image. You can then use Cut, Copy, Paste, or Clear Selection.

Copy To, Paste From These commands work with an outside file instead of the copy buffer. The copy buffer is like an invisible file that is associated with the Paint Program itself. This is useful, but limited, because only one thing can be in the copy buffer at a time, and when Paint is shut down the contents of the copy buffer may be lost. Or, if you are working with two programs, such as Paint and Microsoft Word, using the Copy command in one program may overwrite the contents of the copy buffer in the other program. When you’re working with copying and pasting a lot, you may find that you wish that you could keep more than one object in the copy buffer at a time.
This is what Copy To/Paste From are for. You must have something selected in order to Copy To. Whatever you’ve selected gets saved as a separate file. Paste To works in a complimentary fashion, by pasting the contents of some separate file into your active Paint file.
These are useful features, but they require the added step of using a dialog box to save or open a file, and are thus slower than the regular Copy/Paste commands. Only use these if you know you’ll be needing a selection frequently as you do your work.

Proceed to the Image Menu.

Undo	This is probably the most important single command to remember. Undo will remove the last change you made to the file. For instance, if the last thing you did was to draw a line with the Line Tool, selecting Edit ® Undo would remove the line. This is great when you screw up and want to call a "do-over." You’ll use Undo over and over again, I’m sure, as you’re learning how to place Ovals with precision using the Oval Shape tool, or make the Curve tool work how you want it to. But be careful! Paint’s Undo feature only goes back *one* step. Everything else you did prior to the last step is set in stone. For example, if you just drew that line, and then accidentally clicked the mouse, creating another line, you’d only be able to use Undo to get rid of the last one. The only way to "back up" more than one step in Paint is to Exit without Save-ing, and then Open the file again. But if you do this, you’ll lose ALL the changes you made after the last time you saved. Therefore, smart Paint users will use Save frequently when working with their files, to preserve changes they’re sure they want to keep. Very smart Paint users will save *multiple copies* of their file with File ® Save As. As they work on it, if they change their mind, they can go back a few steps and not have to re-do a lot of repetitive work. And if you’re not particularly smart, don’t worry; the lessons will get drilled into you the first time you lose a lot of work as a result of not following the recommended procedures. One thing to be aware of: Undo can’t Undo everything. It works for the tool commands, but you can’t use Undo to undo a Save or Save As, for example.
Repeat	Repeat is like the reverse of Undo. It will re-apply the last change that you made to the file you’re working on. It doesn’t seem to be a useable option most of the time, however. You’ll find that it’s grayed out most of the time, and not a particularly useful feature.
Cut, Copy, Paste	Cut, along with Copy, and Paste are some of the most useful commands in Paint. These are used in conjunction with the Selection tools. First, use either the rectangular or freeform Selection tool to select a portion of the image. The Cut command will remove the selection from the image, just as though you cut it out with a pair of scissors or an x-acto knife. The Cut portion of the image is not gone, however. It is stored in the computer’s *copy buffer*, where it can be retained temporarily. Copy works much like Cut, in that it places the selected portion of the image into the copy buffer, but it does not remove the selection from where it originally appears in the image. Paste is how you get stuff out of the copy buffer and back onto the image; it "pastes" the contents of the copy buffer back into the image, where you can move it around before deselecting it. Cut and Paste are good for moving bits of an image around. Copy and Paste are good for duplicating portions of an image to create a motif or pattern or collage-like effect.
Clear Selection	Clear Selection is also used in conjunction with the Selection tools. When you use Clear Selection, whatever is in the selection will be deleted. It’s a little trickier than simply using the eraser and zoom, and less precise, but it’s quicker.
Select All	This command automatically selects the entire image. You can then use Cut, Copy, Paste, or Clear Selection.
Copy To, Paste From	These commands work with an outside file instead of the copy buffer. The copy buffer is like an invisible file that is associated with the Paint Program itself. This is useful, but limited, because only one thing can be in the copy buffer at a time, and when Paint is shut down the contents of the copy buffer may be lost. Or, if you are working with two programs, such as Paint and Microsoft Word, using the Copy command in one program may overwrite the contents of the copy buffer in the other program. When you’re working with copying and pasting a lot, you may find that you wish that you could keep more than one object in the copy buffer at a time. This is what Copy To/Paste From are for. You must have something selected in order to Copy To. Whatever you’ve selected gets saved as a separate file. Paste To works in a complimentary fashion, by pasting the contents of some separate file into your active Paint file. These are useful features, but they require the added step of using a dialog box to save or open a file, and are thus slower than the regular Copy/Paste commands. Only use these if you know you’ll be needing a selection frequently as you do your work.