How to copy and paste a text message on Android

When you need to quickly share a message with a friend or family member, copy and paste instructions or directions, or copy a link from another message, you can do this pretty easily on any of the best Android phones. The steps vary slightly depending on which app you use as your default messaging app. So, we’ll guide you through how to copy and paste a text message on Android.

How to copy and paste a text message on Android

It’s easy to copy and paste text messages on Android, and below we’ll walk you through how to do this using Google Messages, as well as what to do if you have a Samsung phone.

How to copy and paste a text message in Google Messages

To quickly and easily copy and paste text messages in Google Messages, here’s what you need to do:

• Open Google Messages.
• Open the text message you want to copy and paste.
• Tap and hold the text.
• Select the Copy icon from the top right menu (it looks like two stacked sheets of paper) to copy the text to your clipboard
• Create a new message — or open the existing message you want to paste into — then tap and hold in the text entry box and select Paste from the pop-up menu.

How to copy and paste a text message on a Samsung phone

If you’re using Samsung Messages on a Samsung device, the process is quite similar but not exactly the same. For detailed instructions, see below.

• Open up Samsung Messages.
• Open the text message you want to copy and paste.
• Tap and hold the text.
• Drag the highlight boundaries until all the text you want to copy is highlighted.
• Select Copy from the pop-up menu that appears.
• To paste your text message, create a new message — or open the existing message you want to paste into — tap and hold in the text entry box, then select Paste from the pop-up menu.

To send information to several recipients, it’ll likely be easier to forward a text message rather than copy-pasting text from it.

Bear in mind that other phones have their own messaging apps, and there are many third-party messaging apps in the Google Play Store. With so many apps out there to choose from, we can’t create instructions for all of them, or this post would be too long. If you have a different brand of device not mentioned on this list — or if you use a third-party messaging app — the steps to copy and paste a text message on Android should be pretty similar.

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