Copy Feature Not Available

Question

I'm following directions I found on line to create a digital signature.
1) I've scanned the signature and cropped, and saved as a new file (.PDF).
2) Next step is to use Magic Wand tool to click in white area around signature, then select INVERSE from the SELECT menu. Done with no problem.
3) Next step is to choose COPY, then FILE > NEW > IMAGE FROM CLIPBOARD and save this file as a .PNG.
Problem: Can't complete step 3. The copy feature isn't available to me. It's faint gray and nothing I've done will allow me to use that feature. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Okay, I've made a step-by-step screenshot guide in Photoshop (not elements) for your situation, considering you mentioned you're totally new to this. This is not exactly the same as the 'book' you're following but it's an easy way to make a digital copy of your signature.
Once you've saved your signature from scanner, Photoshop > File > Open, choose your file and open it. If you're opening your signature file directly, you may or may not see the 'Background' layer highlighted above. The thing here is that if you see a background layer + Layer 1 (as seen above), double click on 'Background' layer, hit OK once. Hit delete with 'Background' layer selected. This will get rid of that layer, leaving only the signature layer. In some cases, when you open your signature scan image if you only see 'Background', it means your signature data actually lies within that layer. In that case, just double click and hit OK. Don't delete. We'll just unlock the layer by doing so.
Once layer is unlocked, you can process your image.
First click on the 'Magic Wand' tool on the left (highlighted above). Then, single left click on any white portion of your image. Notice here that the 'Background' layer is deleted as I didn't want that layer since I had to make this signature transparent. Note that this will not select 'ALL' white areas if they're not contiguous. Proceed to next step.
After you single click as shown in previous step, right click on the white area again, select 'Similar' from the context menu. This will select all white areas in the image that we want to make transparent.
Now, all the white areas would've been selected after the previous step. You can now press 'Delete' on your keyboard to delete them and be left with just the signature on a transparent background as shown above.
Now, we're ready to save. File > Save As as shown above.
Choose filename and select format as 'PNG' as shown above. Click 'Save'.
You'll be shown a PNG Options dialog box. Leave the settings default and hit OK.
That's it! Your signature would be saved as a PNG file (with transparency) to the location you chose to save it in.
Trust this helps!