How to Copy & Paste Animated GIFs from the Internet

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The internet is filled with millions, if not, billions of animated GIFs which mostly available to download for free. You might often randomly found an animated GIF while scrolling through social media or reading an article. These GIFs could be a good material to express yourself on chat, social media status, or even a professional presentation.

Just like any other image format, GIF can be saved to use for later. You may paste it to an app you need. In this guide, you will learn how to copy and paste an animated GIF on a computer.

Where to find animated GIFs?

#1 Use Google Images

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Basically not limited to Google, nearly all popular search engines offer some kind of an image searching service. Just head to Google Images, then type the query you want to search, followed by ‘GIF’. For example, “Iron Man GIF”. The service also made it easier to identify such images as they were labeled with ‘GIF’ at the bottom corner of the image.

#2 Use online GIF website

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A few websites on the internet are dedicated to storing animated GIFs which available for the public to download. These websites only serve animated GIFs, not static ones. The best websites to download GIFs are:

How to copy GIF

#1 Copying GIF via context menu

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To copy a GIF file, just right-click on it and select Copy image. Make sure you are not to be confused with ‘Copy image address’ and ‘Copy link address’. Those are for a different purpose.

#2 Copy GIF by downloading it

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The best way to get a GIF is by downloading it to your computer so it can be used later (offline). To do that, right-click on the GIF, select Save image as… and then Save it to your device.

How to paste GIF

#1 Paste GIF via context menu or Ctrl+V

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Let’s say I want to insert a GIF to a PowerPoint slide, then all I need to do is just copy the image and then right-click on a slide, and select Paste (or press Ctrl+V). The menu is also available via Home > Paste. The program will automatically download the picture and directly inserting it to the document.

But this is not always the case. Some programs do not support GIF. They are usually will just paste the image URL or do nothing at all. So, this is something you need to be aware of.

#2 Paste GIF by importing it

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If the program doesn’t support a seamless copy-paste for GIF, then you probably have to insert it manually. This method of pasting requires GIF to be downloaded (see copy method #2 above).

As each program could have a different interface, I can’t provide a specific guide for it. However, most programs follow this rule: go to File > Import > and select the GIF file. You may also drag and drop the GIF onto the program.


Either way, that’s all I have for you today. I hope this you found this article to be helpful.