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Participating Frequently
October 10, 2024
Answered

CTRL+C not working/ Right-click Copy works fine

  • October 10, 2024
  • 4 replies
  • 7530 views

This topic pops up periodically in the Acrobat community, but none of the prior resolutions fit my situation. I confirmed with my coworkers that this issue is not unique to my computer as multiple people have this same issue.  With Adobe Acrobat Pro open, right-click Copy works fine; however, when I'm copying data between forms and applications all day, and Acrobat is the only one that CTRL-C doesn't work, it has resulted in the wrong data being pasted or none at all. It is now getting to the point of impacting workflow for our team.

I did NOT have this issue when using Adobe Acrobat Reader; however, this became an issue when our company updated its license to Adobe Acrobat Pro - Continuous Release, and we are currently using V. 2024.003.20.180. There are NO restrictions set on the forms.

 



Thank you in advance for any assistance.

 

Correct answer Dan32024026wvsv

I was able to resolve the issue with this solution.

Press and hold the Ctrl key.

Press the C key.

Release the Ctrl key.

Release the C key.

After I did this I was able to release the Ctrl and the C in any order and it worked, but I first had to do a copy paste using the above order a single time. 

I found this solution here:

https://helpx.adobe.com/digital-editions/kb/copying-ctrl-c-sometimes-fails.html

4 replies

New Participant
October 30, 2025

Such a dumb system

JR Boulay
Braniac
January 23, 2025

Hi, Apologies for the inconvience. Would it be possible for you to share the file on which you are seeing this issue ? Is Ctrl + C not working for file content, or form data or both ?

PravalJain, the problem isn't with a file, it's with the software. A customer has just confirmed, these repeated bug additions are a real pain.

Acrobate du PDF, InDesigner et Photoshopographe
New Participant
January 23, 2025

Agreed.  This is definitely a software issue, not a individual .pdf file issue.  Started around 1 to 1.5 years ago with Acrobat Pro.  Completely random if it is going to have an issue or not.

Dan32024026wvsvCorrect answer
New Participant
February 3, 2025

I was able to resolve the issue with this solution.

Press and hold the Ctrl key.

Press the C key.

Release the Ctrl key.

Release the C key.

After I did this I was able to release the Ctrl and the C in any order and it worked, but I first had to do a copy paste using the above order a single time. 

I found this solution here:

https://helpx.adobe.com/digital-editions/kb/copying-ctrl-c-sometimes-fails.html

New Participant
January 22, 2025

Hello!  Have you ever found a fix for this?  I've been experiencing issues like this for the last year or so - on multiple computers with Acrobat Pro.  I keep hoping an update will fix it, but nothing has worked.  I have tried dozens of different forms on multiple machines - Windows PC and Mac.  Copying works when right clicked and copied, but not with Ctrl+C (or CMD+C on Mac).  It randomly will work and surprises me, but 9 out of every 10 times, it doesn't work for me.

Participating Frequently
January 23, 2025

Thank you for your inquiry and for keeping this topic active, as a resolution from Adobe has not yet been provided. This issue remains ongoing for me as well, requiring me to adapt by manually right-clicking and selecting Copy to ensure the selected item is added to the clipboard.

The most frustrating aspect of this issue occurs when consolidating information from multiple sources into a form letter email for user notifications. If I inadvertently use CTRL+C to copy text from an Acrobat text field, the action fails to update the clipboard, and CTRL+V instead pastes the previously stored clipboard item to where I'm trying to paste the information.

One critical example of how this impacts my workflow is when copying and pasting BitLocker PINs onto user notification emails. This has led to inadvertently sending users the wrong BitLocker PIN, preventing them from accessing their encrypted corporate devices. While this is not a direct security risk, it causes work stoppages, disrupts productivity, and requires IT intervention to resolve.

New Participant
January 23, 2025

Agreed!  The random nature of the problem is the most frustrating.  Right after I wrote this yesterday, CTRL+C started working for me, then a few minutes later, it quit again... in the same document and the same fields.  Definitely a bug in the Acrobat Pro software itself.  Started around a year ago for me with just about any form document.

Adobe Employee
October 11, 2024

Hi, Apologies for the inconvience. Would it be possible for you to share the file on which you are seeing this issue ? Is Ctrl + C not working for file content, or form data or both ? 

Participating Frequently
October 11, 2024

Thank you for your quick reply and assistance, PravalJain,

The issue is most noticeable in an in-house IT form used to collect information from various sources (e.g. FedEx, Amazon, HR, etc.) and then copy from the form over to a ticketing system. I suspect the field type is a contributing issue, as the text field on page two does not seem to have an issue with CTRL-C.

ls_rbls
Braniac
October 13, 2024

Hi @Patrick_N_Seattle ,

 

Just trying to add my ten cents here to this topic, I was wondering if this is happening only with the new Acrobat Experience.

 

What happens if you switch to the Acrobat Classic user interface?