Notepad  ::  Wordpad  ::  To Copy & Paste Text
Saving "Boilerplate" Text  :: Toggling between Windows    
Formatting Tips  ::  Back to First Time Sign Up

Notepad - this is a Windows tool that can be brought up very easily by simply clicking your computer's "Start" menu button,  then type in the letter "R" (run),  then type the word notepad into the dialog box.  Any text you type or copy into this easy text editor will clear it off all character formatting,  but will retain line breaks and paragraph breaks.

(This is such a handy tool you may want to add it to your start menu or desktop.)

Wordpad - this is a Windows tool that can be brought up very easily by simply clicking your computer's "Start" menu button,  then type in the letter "R" (run),  then type wordpad into the dialog box. This  editor will retain HTML formatting,  bold text, tables, etc. to the text you copy into and out of it.

COPYING TEXT
To copy existing text, go online (as a regular visitor) and bring up the page with text you want to copy,  such as a horse classified or catalog page you have already created online. Using your mouse, click once at the beginning of text you wish to copy, then hold the left mouse button down and drag, from left to right and downward, to highlight the text you want. You can then release the mouse button and the text should remain highlighted. Hold your CTRL key down on your keyboard and tap the "c" key once. 

PASTING TEXT:
Open a text editor,  such as "NotePad."  Place your cursor in a blank Notepad page. Then hold down your CTRL key and tap the "v" key. It should insert the text you copied from the web page right in there :-) 

Tips on saving and organizing these notes for future use.

SHORTCUT KEYS FOR COPY & PASTE:
These are the shortcut keystrokes for copying (c) and pasting (v) text. You can use it in nearly any situation to copy and paste from any web page, email or word processing document to another. (You can even copy and paste image files.) It is worth learning and remembering, as it will save you so much time again and again.

CTRL-c (copy)
CTRL-v (paste) ... easier to recall as "velcro" (as in "stick")

Think of the CTRL key as the "please" key ... "please copy ... please paste." Please is a powerful word :-) Holding that key down causes additional functions to take place, rather than simply typing a character.

BOILERPLATE TEXT :  Organizing and Saving
If you have classified or catalog horses to enter with  common ancestors for which you have already prepared text to place in the pedigree chart,  you can save that text for use in future charts so you won't have to type it again manually.  This is called "boilerplate" text.

Open your computer's text editor,  such as "Notepad."  Type in the comments that you want to save for a particular ancestor.  This should be saved in "text" format (a file name ending in  .txt) A text file format will prevent unwanted text or paragraph formatting to accompany the text when you paste it into another file or document. (You can use an ordinary word processor,  but be sure to create it's file name ending in .txt)  You can include  formatting "tags" (explained below) to make your classified or catalog ad have bold or italic text in selected parts of your write-up.)

Place your cursor in a blank Notepad page. Then hold down your CTRL key and tap the "v" key. It should insert the text you copied from the web page right in there :-) 

To save the text for future use,  name and save the file,  using the subject horse's name as the filename.  (Example: three_bars.txt)  You can create a folder in your document file system to hold these horse note files for easy retrieval.

To  "TOGGLE" between your horse input form and your notepad files:
In "Windows" you can open your internet browser,  then resize the browser window either vertically or horizontally by dragging borders with your cursor to occupy only part of your monitor's viewing surface.  Then,  open your notepad or document files. Resize that window to fit into the remaining monitor space available.  Now you will be able to copy and paste from one to the other without closing either program.  You will need to click the upper window border you want to activate as you move back and forth.  If you have a small monitor and would rather minimize and maximize your windows,  that can also be done,  but it is a slower process.

FORMATTING TIPS -- 3 formatting tricks you can use to "fancy up" your User Registration and Ad submissions:

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