A photocopy is an exact duplicate of a document or image made by a machine called a photocopier. When you need multiple copies of a permission slip, a teacher places the original on the photocopier's glass surface, presses a button, and the machine uses light and special powder called toner to create identical copies on fresh paper.

Before photocopiers became common in offices and schools in the 1960s, making copies was slow and difficult. People used carbon paper (which left smudgy marks between sheets as you typed) or had to retype entire documents. The photocopier revolutionized how people worked, making it simple to share information quickly. You could photocopy ten copies of your book report in seconds rather than spending an hour retyping it.

People sometimes use the brand name Xerox to mean photocopy, since the Xerox Corporation made the first practical photocopiers. Today, most photocopiers are part of larger machines that can also print from computers and scan documents digitally. While we increasingly share documents electronically, photocopies remain useful for creating quick paper duplicates when you need them.