Why doesn't cut & paste work in script?

Hi @Thomas_Calvin I never use Cut, Copy and Paste when scripting unless absolutely necessary (because it changes the user's clipboard), but if you do, I strongly suggest you use app.copy() and app.paste().

This is the way I would approach the task of loading a graphic style from another document. See if it helps in your case.

- Mark

/**
 * @file Load A Graphic Style.js
 *
 * Example showing one approach to loading a graphic style.
 *
 * @author m1b
 * @version 2025-04-29
 * @discussion https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/why-doesn-t-cut-amp-paste-work-in-script/m-p/15294229
 */
(function () {

    // NOTE: for this example I have my graphic style "DiagramArrow" in another
    // document (not necessarily open) called "graphic-styles.ai" in the "lib" subfolder.
    // See documentation for the parameters of `loadGraphicStyle` function: you could
    // otherwise pass it a full path or a Document.

    var styles = loadGraphicStyle('lib/graphic-styles.ai', app.activeDocument, ['DiagramArrow']);

    if (!styles)
        return alert('Failed to load graphic styles.');

    var diagramArrowStyle = styles['DiagramArrow'];

    if (!diagramArrowStyle)
        return alert('Failed to load "DiagramArrow" graphic style.');

    // do things, knowing that the "DiagramArrow" style is available
    // ...

})();

/**
 * Load graphic styles from one document into another.
 *
 * As a workaround for the limited methods
 * of `ArtStyle`, we apply the target style
 * to a temporary page item and then duplicate
 * that item across to `destinationDoc`.
 * 
 * Example usage:
 *   var styles = loadGraphicStyle(
 *                    '/lib/graphic-styles.ai',
 *                    app.activeDocument,
 *                    ['Double-headed Arrow', 'Big Box']
 *                );
 * 
 * How to use the returned object:
 *   var arrowStyle = styles['Double-headed Arrow'];
 *   var boxStyle = styles['Big Box'];
 *
 * @author m1b
 * @version 2025-04-29
 * @param {Document|String} sourceDoc - a document, or a path to a document, or the filename of a document in the same folder as this script.
 * @param {Document} destinationDoc - the destination for the loaded style.
 * @param {String|Array<String>} names - the name (or names, if array) of graphic styles to load from source document.
 * @returns {Object} - an object containing reference to the loaded graphic styles, accessed using the style name.
 */
function loadGraphicStyle(sourceDoc, destinationDoc, names) {

    var sourceIsDocument = 'Document' === sourceDoc.constructor.name;

    if (
        'String' === sourceDoc.constructor.name
        && File(File($.fileName).parent + '/' + sourceDoc).exists
    )
        // find file in same folder as this script
        sourceDoc = File(File($.fileName).parent + '/' + sourceDoc);

    if (
        'String' === sourceDoc.constructor.name
        && File(sourceDoc).exists
    )
        // sourceDoc was a valid path
        sourceDoc = File(sourceDoc);

    if (
        'File' === sourceDoc.constructor.name
        && sourceDoc.exists
    )
        // open the source document
        sourceDoc = app.open(sourceDoc);

    if (!sourceDoc.hasOwnProperty('graphicStyles'))
        // couldn't derive a document
        return;

    if ('Array' !== names.constructor.name)
        // we need to iterate over all name(s)
        names = [names];

    for (var i = 0, style, temp, dup; i < names.length; i++) {

        style = getThing(sourceDoc.graphicStyles, 'name', names[i]);

        if (!style)
            // couldn't find style in sourceDoc
            continue;

        // create a temporary page item
        temp = sourceDoc.pathItems.rectangle(0, 0, 1, 1);
        style.applyTo(temp);

        //duplicate styled item to destination
        dup = temp.duplicate(destinationDoc, ElementPlacement.PLACEATEND);

        // cleanup
        dup.remove();

    }

    if (!sourceIsDocument)
        // we don't need sourceDoc anymore
        sourceDoc.close(SaveOptions.DONOTSAVECHANGES);

    // return all the loaded styles
    var loadedStyles = {},
        counter = 0;

    for (var i = 0, style; i < names.length; i++) {

        style = getThing(destinationDoc.graphicStyles, 'name', names[i]);

        if (!style)
            continue;

        loadedStyles[names[i]] = style;
        counter++;

    }

    if (counter > 0)
        return loadedStyles;

};

/**
 * Returns a thing with matching property.
 * If `key` is undefined, evaluate the object itself.
 * @author m1b
 * @version 2024-04-21
 * @param {Array|Collection} things - the things to look through.
 * @param {String} [key] - the property name (default: undefined).
 * @param {*} value - the value to match.
 * @returns {*?} - the thing, if found.
 */
function getThing(things, key, value) {

    for (var i = 0, obj; i < things.length; i++)
        if ((undefined == key ? things[i] : things[i][key]) == value)
            return things[i];

};

Edit 2025-04-29: improved function so that it can accept an array of graphic style names or a single name. The returned object of the function contains references to the styles and the script now shows how to access it. I also show the example using a subfolder: