What is Multitasking?

Multitasking is the ability of an operating system on a microcomputer to run two or more application programs concurrently (i.e. at the same time). This allows the user to launch multiple programs (such as a web browser and a word processor) and easily and quickly jump back and forth between the programs as needed.

One advantage of multi-tasking is sharing of data between applications using the "clipboard" (the portion of memory used by the cut, copy, and paste commands).

cut - Places selected data on the clipboard (replaces whatever might already be there) and deletes it from its original location.
copy - Places selected data on the clipboard (replaces whatever might already be there) and leaves the original data as it was.
paste - Places the contents of the clipboard at the present cursor position (the data remains on the clipboard allowing multiple pasting).

Therefore, to share data between applications...

Select the data.
Use "cut" or "copy" to place it on the clipboard.
Switch to the other program (how? ... see below)
Position the cursor at the desired location.
Use "paste" to insert the data from the clipboard.

How do you switch between programs? It depends on the operating system you are using.

MacOS - The icon at the top right corner of the screen indicates which program is active. If you click-and-hold on this icon, you will see a menu of the programs that are concurrently running (the active program will have a check mark by it). Use this menu to select a different program.
Windows - The names of the concurrently running programs are listed on the task bar (usually at the bottom of the screen). Click on the desired program.
For Either Operating System - If the window of the other (inactive) program is visible on the screen, you can switch to that program by clicking on that window. In situations where you are jumping back and forth a lot between two programs, it is recommended that you adjust the windows on the screen so that both programs are visible (or partially visible) regardless of which program is active.

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