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Answered

Copy & Paste not always working - randomly

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Hi all,

This is a very frustrating bug - around 50% of the times copy & paste won't work. I select an object, press ctrl+C, and then pressing ctrl+V produces nothing as if the clipboard is empty.

I cannot reproduce it as it seems random, sometimes it will copy & paste, sometimes it won't.

This makes working with Illustrator extremely hard.

Might be worth mentioning that copy-pasting from Illustrator into Photoshop resembles the same buggy behavior - it will randomly work or not.

Please advise on how to resolve this.

Cheers

Anubhav MCorrect answer

Community Manager

Hi everyone,

We completely understand how disruptive copy-paste issues in Illustrator can be, especially when they interrupt an active workflow. Copy-paste problems usually fall into a few specific categories (clipboard preferences, file formats, system-level conflicts), and we've put together a dedicated post that walks through each with the corresponding fix:

Why copy-paste breaks in Illustrator and how to fix it

Please work through the suggestions there and share what you observe - whether the issue clears up, partially improves, or persists. Your feedback helps us keep the post accurate and complete for other users facing the same trouble.

Anubhav

[Note: Marked as correct for visibility]

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Alluring_individual4091

Participant

I did find one solve that I suspected as the third party. If you have windows clipboard history turned on (Windows+V), it saves things that were copied. I noticed when you turn this off (Start>Type "Clipboard">go to settings>turn off), illustrator seems to work again with the stupid copy paste issue.

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GuyDudeman

Participant

OMG this worked. Friggin’ Windows, man! I hate windows.

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N Musolino

Participating Frequently

I have had this problem regularly for several years, and I search on it regularly. The most recent thing I found suggested it's a Logitech problem via their software. I uninstalled Logi+ and any other Logitech related software (I use a Logitech mouse, but it works fine without the software). That made an immediate differnce. YMMV, but give it a shot folks. It has been driving me bats for years.

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Jason5C88

Participating Frequently

Well apparently Adobe doesn't really care how much their products slow people down. Being that it is now 2025 and the issue still exists should be a clear sign they don't care. I'm fed up with Illustrator. I've been dealing with this copy past issue for the last two years now. IT NEVER used to do this. More than half the time I need to use it, I have to repeatedly press control C, at least 5 times, over and over again.... then it will finally take. Sometimes, it just doesn't and I have to play manual games to line stuff up. I can never paste in place. It's so stupid. Other programs dont' do this, EVER. Been looking for a solution the entire time, and NOTHING.

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Anubhav M

Community Manager

Hello @Jason5C88,

Could you share more details, like the version of the OS/Illustrator installed, and if you have any third-party plugins or window managers enabled when using Illustrator, so I can better assist you?

Also, try running Illustrator under Safe Mode (Windows / macOS) and share your observations.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

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M

mordielk

Participating Frequently

My most updated Illustrator crashed 100% of the time when copying or cutting. Sometimes it didn't even carry out the command at all. I turned to this page and found one answer below from Monica Gauser.
What remedied the situation immediately was simply going to Edit/Preference/Clipboard and turning off the option "Copy SVG Code". Magic.

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Like_Minded

Participating Frequently

How is this still an issue in 2025. It's beyond me how these types of issues take years for Adobe to solve

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DickWhitman

Participant

One thing I've noticed is that this only happens if I use keyboard shortcuts.

Copy and paste works perfectly fine if I do them from the menu. Which of course is way slower and frustrating in the long run.

Reinstalled the app, deleted the prefs. Didnt help.

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Anubhav M

Community Manager

Hello @DickWhitman,

I'm sorry to hear that you're still having trouble with Copy/Paste in Illustrator. To better identify the problem, would you mind disabling any plugins or window managers that you have enabled and then launching Illustrator to see if it helps?

If the problem persists, kindly confirm the exact version of the OS/Illustrator so I can better assist you.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

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HubertusausBerlin

Inspiring

Hello @Anshul_Saini + all!

I recently started having the same problem in Illustrator 28.5.

Copy & Paste does not work regularly. If I copy or cut something, it can't be pasted afterwards (Paste is also greyed out). This is quite annoying.

In the meantime I have tried the following without success:

x Deleted preferences, had them recreated

X Searched the lists circulating here ( @Monika Gause https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/illustrator-2022-copy-paste-is-not-working/m-p/12489823#M296750 ) for third-party programmes that could run in the background, but found none of the listed ones.

X Clipboard options PDF deactivated

Is there any new information on the problem?

Greetings Hubertus

My system info:

Windows 11 pro (23H2)

AMD Rysen 9 79503D 16Core 4.20GHz

128 GB RAM

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 24GB VRAM (TUF-RTX4090-OG)

Studio Treiber 555.85 (5/24)

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Monika Gause

Community Expert

So you do not have aggressive antivirus running?

Is it always the same kind of object you are copying? Something special?

Are you always using the shortcut? Or also the menu? Figuring out whether it's the shortcut that ois not working or Copy/Paste in general.

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HubertusausBerlin

Inspiring

Hello @Monika Gause. Thank you for your answer.

There are different objects. Logos, simple elements, such as squares etc. Nothing special.

I have just tested again. If I cut or copy using the menu command and paste again using the menu command, everything works perfectly.

As soon as I use short cuts - not any more.

So it's the short cuts that regularly fail from time to time.

I only run the system's standard anti-virus programmes.

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sferris77

Participating Frequently

I've been having this issue for a few years now and it's STILL doing it. I tried everything. The preference change doesn't do anything and neither does closing chrome. It sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. I use Ctrl+c/Ctrl=v like a thousand times a day so it's infurating when it's not working. PLEASE FIX THIS ADOBE.

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Monika Gause

Community Expert

I've been having this issue for a few years now and it's STILL doing it. I tried everything. The preference change doesn't do anything and neither does closing chrome. It sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. I use Ctrl+c/Ctrl=v like a thousand times a day so it's infurating when it's not working. PLEASE FIX THIS ADOBE.

By @sferris77

Here is a list of settings and third party apps that interfere with the clipboard

Parallels Toolbox running with the Clipboard History
TeamVewer Clipboard > Use Shared Clipboard
Apple iOS device simulator from Xcode
Windows Multi-clipboard
Windows Clipboard History
Chrome Remote Desktop
Mouse Pointer Highlighter
AnyViewer
Pastebot app
Overzealous antivirus (Digital Guardian) as well as viruses that empty the clipboard
Vector Magic

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sferris77

Participating Frequently

I have none of these apps installed.

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S

Scarlett.3369

Known Participant

this is still an issue, Not a keyboard issue, reset peferances, no clipboard apps installed, SVG has been turned off for awhile because having that on greatly slows down work with somef files. Yet still not ways pasting after hiting copy and it only happens with illustrator randomly. I swear everytime they put out an update something else is messed up.

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chryssalid

Participant

I can confirm that the issue still exists in 2024. In my case it is ALWAYS when I switch windows too fast (to the destination app) after CTRL+C. It looks like Illustrator needs some time to copy the image and if something interrupts this process (like loosing window focus) it is cancelled. It is also the case in the Illustrator tabs itself - if I switch tab too fast - result is the same as above.

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