This post composed on MiniTool official page collects all the common usage cases of shortcut Ctrl – X and the things you should pay attention to while using this hotkey. Just take a few minutes on the following content to learn more about the cut feature!
What Does Ctrl X Do?
In general, “Ctrl + X” is a keyboard shortcut used to cut a selected item (text, link, picture, etc.) and usually paste it to another location with the hotkey “Ctrl + V”. This action is commonly used to move an item from one place to another while deleting the original copy.
Ctrl+X is also regarded as “Control + X” or “C-X”. Its alternative is right-click mouse and select Cut. If you cut off the wrong item using this shortcut, don’t worry, you can recover it by “Ctrl + Z” as long as you haven’t done any further option to the same document or haven’t saved the changes.
- Unless you have not yet saved the changes you have made to the target document, you can make use of the Ctrl+Z shortcut repeatedly to restore your document to the last, last, last…version.
- On Mac devices, the shortcut for cutting something is Command + X.
How to Use the Cut Shortcut?
Generally, it is very simple to make use of the Ctrl-X hotkey. First of all, put your mouse cursor at the very beginning of the text that you want to cut, press the left button on the mouse and hold on it, drag the cursor the way pass through the target content, and stop at the end.
Now, press one of the two Ctrl keys on your keyboard, hold it and press the X key. Immediately, the selected part on your document will disappear. Although you can’t see the cut content, it is saved in the clipboard temporarily before it was pasted in its new location.
Then, switch to the destination address and put the mouse curse at the very point where you want to place the cut item. Finally, use the Ctrl+V shortcut to paste the cut text on the new location. Voila! The target content now appears on the new location.
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Ctrl X in Word of Microsoft
The most common using situation of ctrl + x is within Office documents like Word .doc or .docx. Just do as exactly described in the above section and you will find it really easy to cut and paste in Word as well as other word processors!
Ctrl + X in Excel
In Microsoft Excel and other spreadsheet apps, rely on ctrl+x to cut any cell, text, or other object chosen in the table.
- Ctrl-x won’t work if you are editing the contents of a cell.
- Unlike in Word or many other types of documents, the original content won’t disappear until you paste it to its new location. Instead, a running dotted frame will cover the contour of the cut cell.
Ctrl X in a Web Browser
No matter which browser you are using, Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or Opera, you can take advantage of the ctrl X key combination to cut an editable text. Yes, only the editable text is able to be cut away. Otherwise, if you try to cut an un-editable item and paste it on your doc with ctrl v, you can only see “^X” is created.
- Most contents on the web pages are un-editable. This is an action to prevent online content from being changed by others.
- You can still copy and paste web content on most websites.
Ctrl+X in Command Prompt
Being completely different from in documents or web browsers, the ctrl x hotkey usually doesn’t cut an item. Instead, in many command-line commands like edit, pico, and elm, this shortcut just closes the program or file.
While in CMD, ctrl + X inputs “^X” where the cursor locates. While in PowerShell, it does nothing. However, you can paste something from else where into the command window.
About The Author
Position: Columnist
Helen Graduated from university in 2014 and started working as a tech editor in the same year. Her articles focus on data backup & recovery and disk management. Through an in-depth exploration of computer technology, Helen has successfully helped thousands of users solve their annoying problems.