Copy, Paste and Cut via Edit Menu
If you would like to copy or cut parts of your sequence, start by selecting the desired region either by dragging across the region, clicking on feature or using a keyboard shortcut. Then navigate to the “Edit” tab and find the “Cut” or “Copy” buttons in the top banner. Select “Cut” to copy the sequence to the clipboard and remove it from the current file. You can either insert the copied sequence by clicking a single point in the sequence and you can replace a given region with the copied sequence if you first select a region. You can then use the past button to paste the copied or cut sequence into a different region of the current sequence, into a different file or into a new sequence file by going to “File” > “New sequence”.
Copy Options in Edit Menu
When using the “Copy” button in the “Edit” menu in the top banner, you have four options. You can copy the top strand (5’ to 3’), you can copy the bottom strand either 5’ to 3’ or 3’ to 5’ and lastly you have the option to copy the amino acid sequence either of the top or bottom strand.
Copy, Paste and Cut via Right Click
It is also possible to cut, copy or paste sequences via right click. Again, first select the desired region then use right click to open the menu. Not that for pasting with right click, if you have selected a region the option in the right click menu will be to “Replace” the selection with the sequence copied to the clipboard. If you right click a single location it will be called “Insert”. For copying there are several options here, navigate to the copy section and you will see a variety of different methods in the menu.
Copy Options via Right Click
The copy options for the right click menu additionally include the option to “Copy Genbank for Selection” this copies the selection in a .gb format which will also include features if copied into other software.
Comparing Copy Options Edit Menu vs Right Click
Below you can see a comparison between the copy options in the “Edit” menu vs via right click. The wording is slightly different [Top Strand = Copy], [Bottom Strand (5’>3’) = Copy Reverse Complement], [Bottom Strand (3’>5’) = Copy Complement], [Amino Acid Top Strand = Copy AA Sequence], [Amino Acids Bottom Strand = Copy Reverse Complement AA Sequence] and lastly the Copy Genbank Selection is only available in the right click menu.
Copy, Paste and Cut via Keyboard Shortcuts
It is also possible to paste via keyboard shortcuts. Again, first select the region then use the shortcut Ctrl + c to copy, Ctrl + x to cut and Ctrl + v to paste. Before pasting you can make a selection and then pasting will replace the selection.
Copy and Pasting with Features and Primers
If the selection you are copying and pasting includes a feature or primer these will be copied to the new location or new sequence. For features, also partial features will be copied even if the selection doesn’t cover the whole feature. If you are creating a new sequence with the copied sequence via the “File” > “New Sequence” you can make a selection of which primers or features to include in the new sequence via the check boxes in the new sequence modal.
