Copy-and-Paste to Web Sites your genealogy stuff.... This is a simple little trick that I have used for years, but I am surprised that more people don't know about it. This came to mind earlier when a newsletter reader wrote to say that he was having difficulty entering a comment into the Comments section at the end of an article on this web site. The "fix" was simple. That is, it is simple if you know about it. Since his comment was quite lengthy, he first composed his words in a word processor of choice. That's a great idea. However, when he copied his words and then attempted to paste them into the web site's comments section, an error message was returned, saying that the text was "not allowed" or something similar. In fact, most web sites will only accept pure ASCII text. That is, there can be no non-ASCII, binary characters and no graphics or formatting commands. When you copy text from a word processor, from another web site, or from any of thousands of other programs, the ORIGINATING program will often insert non-ASCII, binary characters and perhaps some graphics or formatting commands. These are often hidden from view; you won't see them, but your computer knows that they are embedded in the text. Before copying-and-pasting text between any two different applications, you should filter out all the non-text characters. In fact, there are dozens of small utility programs to do just that. However, you already may the tools installed on your Windows, Macintosh, or Linux computer to do the same. Once you get used to the process, it only takes a very few seconds to filter the text. What you need to do is use a simple text editor. The simpler, the better. Text editors are normally so simple that they don't know what to do with non-ASCII, binary characters. Most of them simply throw the unwanted characters away. This is exactly what you want to do! For Windows users, this means NOTEPAD, the built-in Windows accessory. For Macintosh users, it means obtaining a new text editor since TextEdit on the Mac doesn't filter everything. I use TextWrangler, a free program available from Bare Bones Software at http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/, but you can also find several other suitable text editor available. The simpler, the better. All you need to do is copy all your text from the originating program, and paste it into NotePad (or TextWrangler or whatever text editor you prefer). Then select all the text again in the text editor, copy it, and finally, paste it into the web browser or whatever destination program you are using. For Windows users: Open Notepad. Click the mouse inside the text you wrote or wish to copy inside the originating program. Press and hold the Control key and then press A (also known as Control-A or Ctrl-A). Release both keys. This highlights all the text. Then press and hold the Control key again and press C (also known as Control-C or Ctrl-C). That copies the text to the Windows Clipboard although you cannot see the contents of that Clipboard. Next, move the mouse and click inside the text area of Notepad. Press and hold the Control key and then press V (also known as Control-V or Ctrl-V). Release both keys. This paste command copies the text to Notepad. In fact, you will see the text in Notepad. Please note that all special characters are gone. Now, leave the mouse cursor where it is inside NotePad, and press and hold the Control key and then press A (also known as Control-A or Ctrl-A). Release both keys. This highlights all the text again. Then press and hold the Control key again and then press C (also known as Control-C or Ctrl-C). That copies the text to the Windows Clipboard. Next, move the mouse and click inside the text area of the destination program, such as your web browser. Press and hold  the Control key and then press V (also known as Control-V or Ctrl-V). Release both keys. This pastes the text to the destination program but without the non-ASCII binary characters. For Macintosh users: The process is almost the same except for slightly different keystrokes. Open Text Wrangler or whatever text editor you prefer. >From the originating program, click the mouse inside the text you wrote or wish to copy. Press and hold the Macintosh Command key (the one with a symbol that looks a bit like a four-leaf clover) and then press A (also known as Command-A). Release both keys. This highlights all the text. Then press and hold the Command key again and press C (also known as Command-C). That copies the text to the Macintosh Clipboard although you cannot see the contents of that Clipboard. Next, move the mouse and click inside the text area of Text Wrangler or text editor of choice. Press and hold the Command key and then press V (also known as Command-V). Release both keys. This copies the text to the text editor. In fact, you will see the text in that text editor. Please note that all special characters are gone. Now, leave the mouse cursor where it is inside the text editor. Press and hold the Command key and then press A (also known as Command-A). Release both keys. This highlights all the text again. Then press and hold the Command key again and press C (also known as Command-C). This copies the text to the Macintosh Clipboard. Next, move the mouse and click inside the text area of the destination program, such as your web browser. Press and hold the Command key and then press V (also known as Command-V). Release both keys. This copies the text to the destination program but without the non-ASCII binary characters. That's it. You are done. The text now has the control characters stripped out and has been pasted inside the destination program. If you cannot remember the control and command key sequences, you can also use the mouse alone. In most programs, to highlight all text, click inside the text area and then move the mouse to the top of screen menus, click on EDIT, and click on SELECT ALL. To copy text, click on EDIT and then click on COPY. To paste the text, click inside the destination program, and then move the mouse to the top of screen menus, click on EDIT and click on PASTE. The last method may be easier to remember but requires a lot more mouse movement. Try it. This method provides an easy and reliable method of pasting comments into this newsletter's web site as well as to hundreds of other applications. Thanks to David E. Cummins for this information