Copy and paste using the clipboard

Copy Copy, Cut Cut, and Paste Paste allow you to copy selected features and their attributes to the clipboard and paste them to the same feature layer with maps in the same project. These tools are available on the Edit ribbon tab, in the Clipboard group.

When you use these commands, consider the following:

  • To paste features to a different layer, use Paste Special Paste.
  • If you exit ArcGIS Pro with a large amount of information on the clipboard, you are asked if you want to save the information and be able to paste it later.

Copy selected features

To copy selected features to the clipboard, complete the following steps:

  1. Click the source map tab to make it current.

    The current map tab appears dark blue.

  2. On the Edit ribbon tab, click the Select tool Select in the Selection group, and select the features you want to copy.
  3. On the Edit ribbon tab, click Copy Copy in the Clipboard group, or press Ctrl+C.

    The features and their attribute values are copied to the clipboard. The selected features remain in the map.

Cut selected features

To copy selected features to the clipboard and remove the selected features from the source map, complete the following steps:

  1. Click the source map tab to make it current.

    The current map tab appears dark blue.

  2. On the Edit ribbon tab, click the Select tool Select in the Selection group, and select the features you want to copy.
  3. On the Edit ribbon tab, click Cut Cut in the Clipboard group, or press Ctrl+X.

    The features and their attribute values are copied to the clipboard, and the selected features are removed from the map.

Paste features to the same layer

To paste features from the clipboard to the same layer, complete the following steps:

  1. Click the destination map tab to make it current.

    The current map tab appears dark blue.

  2. On the Edit ribbon tab, click Paste Paste in the Clipboard group, or press Ctrl+V.

    The features are added to the current map on the same layer and at the same coordinate location from which they were copied. The pasted features are the current selection and the Move tool is automatically started.

    Move tool

  3. Hover over the features until the pointer changes to the move Move cursor and drag the features.
  4. To finish your edits, click Finish Finish or press the F2 key.

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