Usually, you use the mouse to select text first, as you would in any other application. (To select the entire contents of a page, you can press Ctrl+a, but that would include extra material from headers, footer, and sidebars, so probably not useful on a blog post.)

Once you have selected what you want to copy, then copy using any of these common Windows methods:

Ctrl+c
right-click > Copy
Edit menu > Copy

To paste into your email, once you have clicked at the desired place in the message, the same approaches should work in most Windows programs:

Ctrl+v
right-click > Paste
Edit menu > Paste

(Some programs also may have a toolbar icon for paste.)

Now... some potential issues.

First, when you are selecting on a web page, the highlighting that indicates the selection may pull in material from sidebars or may skip over some pictures, etc. This all depends on how the web page was constructed. It might take a couple of copy and paste operations to isolate just the part you care about without picking up a bunch of junk.

Second, web pages may include scripts and plugin content like Flash movies that are not allowed by some email programs. For example, in Microsoft Outlook, these elements may generate a security warning. So you might have to work around those if you see them in your selection.

Finally, some people have added a script to their page that pops up when you right-click and warns you that it's copyrighted. In that case, use one of the other methods to copy.

Does that work?

Thanks for the quick response. I'm still all at sea over the actual sequence though ( I told you my knowledge was basic!). Once I've highlighted the required text & clicked on 'copy', can I close down the blog and go to my email page to write the letter into which I want to place the text? And having written the email, is that when I click on 'paste' to retrieve the text and slot it into the email? If so, will clicking 'paste' attach it to the email or do I also have to click on 'attach'? Sorry to be such a thicko.

I'm not one of those computer techies that usually posts here but I think I might still be able to offer a helping reply.

Whenever you Copy something, the copy will be stored in place called windows clipboard memory until you copy something else, which will replace what was previously stored in the clipboard memory. This memory works across all programs and windows on the same computer. So after you have copied the text you want, you could very well close the blog. However, just to make sure, I would keep the blog open while I switch window to the email so I can go back and copy again if its needed. If that makes it confusing, then yes, close the blog after you copied what you want.

While at your email, I would suggest making it easier for your self and paste the content directly into the e-mail message body and ignore everything concerning attachments. Your own suggestion sounds good, write your message and then do a "Paste" to retrieve the text you have previously copied. It will slot in where your marker is located.

Attachments concerns adding an external file along with the e-mail, and although its very useful and in some cases preferred, I don't think it sounds necessary in this case. So No, no need to click on attach.

Hope that helped?

Thanks jscher2000 for all your advice - now copying & pasting for all I'm worth!

Thanks Chrispa76 - like most things in life, simple when you know how!

The feature of copy, paste etc is not shown on my computer. It shows it when I'm just writing an original email, but when I open an email from a friend, that bar doesn't show. (I don't know how to get it to appear, computer illiterate.

Hi ptanimoto - if you are referring to a set of buttons that appears above a new message while you are composing, those are the buttons supplied by the mail site for your use in composing a message. You don't actually need those buttons to copy or paste.

If you select text, you can copy it using one of the following built-in methods (these are for Windows, but for other OSes, it's similar):

Ctrl+c
right-click > Copy
Edit menu > Copy

These are Windows interface standards, so at least one of them should work in almost any situation.

Any luck?