Copy/paste issues Illustrator (Copy paste not working & "not a valid PDF")

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
October 9, 2019
3 replies
2629 views

My copy/paste function within Illustrator seems to work terrible.

If I copy something, I have a 1 out of 10 chance (if I am lucky) I can actually paste it. Doesn't matter if I press ctrl+c 100 times, doesn't matter if I go to edit > copy, it just doesn't work most of the time. The function isn't greyed out within the edit drop down, so it is possible. It just doesn't register whatever I copy. If I had something on my clipboard before the copy, it will still paste that previous clipboard item.

This is Illustrator specific, as in other programs (whether it's Adobe or differrent) it works without issues.

Now today I ran across a new copy paste issue. Whenever I try to copy some vectors from Illustrator to Photoshop, it says "This is not a valid Portable Document File (PDF) document. It cannot be opened.". Which is rather odd, as I was able to copy this vector just 5 minutes ago, with the exact same method. Nothing has changed, same files, same method.

Obviously I make a lot of use of the copy paste function and not being able to work in-between programs is a pain in the ass. I can't save every file individually and load it up in Photoshop. I want my copy/paste function to work properly.

If someone has any insight (especially with the ctrl+ c not registering), that'd be amazing!

This topic has been closed for replies.

J

jdXp016

Participating Frequently

I noticed this conversatrion seemed to sputter out in 2019; I hope you were able to resolve the issue.

I was having a copy issue with ai files when wanting to use them as smart objects in Photoshop; especially if I had just reopened the ai file in Illestrator as it showed greyed out.

I actually stumbled upon the soluition by accident:

When I clicked inside of the open ai file and it put the blue box around the image now the Edit > copy is NOT greyed out and when I Edit > Paste Special > Paste in Place in Photoshop the panel to choose smart object etc opens.

xanderz64171393Author

Inspiring

I don't get "This is not a valid Portable Document File (PDF) document. It cannot be opened." anymore, but the Ctrl+C / CTRL+V problem is still very much present. What I have been doing now (and works about 75% of the time), is CTRL+X, then pasting back in place with CTRL+SHIFT+V and then paste in Photoshop.

xanderz64171393Author

Inspiring

Right, so when I copy my vector from Illustrator and go to Photoshop, I get the same "This is not a valid PDF" message when I click file > new. Now I get that Photoshop checks the clipboard for dimensions when creating a new document, but I am not even doing anything with it? What's going on here...

Monika Gause

Community Expert

There might have been changes to how Windows handles clipboard contents. Or you have a clipboard enhancer running.

xanderz64171393Author

Inspiring

Is that possible when it only happens within Illustrator? Every other program I work with works fine, whether it's also Adobe or another program all together.

And no I don't have a clipboard enhancer, I only have the Adobe CC suite and Office. This PC is brand new.

xanderz64171393Author

Inspiring

Oh, I'm on the most recent version of CC, Win10.

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