Incorporate Text

How can you incorporate text from web pages into reports or presentations?

Once you have found text information in digital format that you want to use in reports or presentations, you may want to move it from the source page to the pages you are creating in a word processor or presentation program. Because the information is in digital format, this process can be as simple as copying and pasting.

Note that formatting from the html document may not be preserved, depending on which browser and which word-processing program you are using. If you are using recent versions of the Internet Explorer browser and Microsoft Word, standard word processing formatting (bold, underline and the like) will be preserved. If you are using other programs, you may have to do some touch up formatting. In general, html formatting (tables, links and the like) will probably not be preserved. But then we usually don't need those in word processing documents.

  1. In your browser, place the cursor so that it is an arrow icon (not a hand icon).
  2. Then click/drag to select the text you want to transfer.
  3. Click on the edit menu of your browser and select "Copy" (or use the CTRL-C or Open Apple-C key combination.)
  4. Now click in the window of a word processing document.
  5. Click on the edit menu item and select 'Paste" (or use the CTRL-V or Open Apple-V key combination.)

Authored by Lora K. Kaisler 2003