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BizzleZX10R
BizzleZX10R
Participating Frequently
February 14, 2025
Question

Copy/Cut & Paste Not Working (AI and PS)

  • February 14, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 2627 views

This has been going on since beggining of last year and is completely destroying my workflow. I have read just about every thread on this and none of the fixes are helping.

 

Whenever i am working in one document and need to copy from it and into another tab it only works 10% of the time. This happens with using cut as well. Cut will make it disappear from the original (so that proves the first part works) but like previously mentioned, will paste about 10% of the time. 

 

SVG option in Preferences > File Handling and Clipboard is off 

Anyviewer uninstalled

App up to date 

Windows up to date 

 

I have nothing else that would be conflicting with my clipboard. I'm at my wit's end and am about to leave adobe altogether 

    2 replies

    Anshul_Saini
    Community Manager
    Anshul_SainiCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    March 19, 2025

    Hi @BizzleZX10R,

     

    I’m sorry to hear that you’re still having issues with copy-paste functionality in Illustrator and Photoshop. I can imagine how frustrating this must be, especially when it disrupts your workflow.

     

    Monika raised a great point — third-party apps, even those previously uninstalled, can sometimes leave background processes that may interfere with clipboard functionality. Since Illustrator’s clipboard data is often more complex than simple text, this could be a contributing factor.

     

    To troubleshoot further, please try the following steps:

    1. Run Illustrator and Photoshop in Safe Mode and check if you’re able to cut/copy and paste reliably.

    2. If the issue persists, please confirm your OS version and Illustrator/Photoshop version.

    3. Additionally, if possible, could you share a sample .ai and .psd file along with a short screen recording of your copy-paste workflow? This will help us better understand the issue and attempt to reproduce it on our end.

     

    I appreciate your patience, and we are committed to helping you find a solution. I look forward to hearing back from you.

     

    Best,

    Anshul

    S
    SANALRENK
    Inspiring
    July 16, 2025

    I've been experiencing this annoying copy-paste issue with Illustrator for a long time.

    Reinstalling Windows 11 from scratch has failed countless times.

      Abhishek Rao
      Community Manager
      Abhishek RaoCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      July 18, 2025

      Illustrator is currently on the latest version, and the problem persists. Previous versions had the same problem. I thought updates would fix it, but they never did.

      The problem occurs when copying and pasting from other projects open within Illustrator.


      Hi @SANALRENK,

       

      Thanks for reaching out, and I'm sorry to hear that this issue has been persisting for so long. It definitely shouldn't be this frustrating.

      Could you please confirm the exact version of Illustrator you're currently using, along with your operating system details? Also, if possible, please share a short screen recording that shows the copy-paste issue happening between open Illustrator documents. This will help us better understand and investigate.

      In the meantime, please try the troubleshooting steps already suggested in this thread, especially testing the issue in Safe Mode and under a new local admin user account (both on Windows or macOS, depending on your setup). These steps can help isolate whether the problem is system-related or user-specific.

       

      Looking forward to your response so we can assist further.

      Abhishek

      Anubhav M
      Community Manager
      Anubhav MCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      February 14, 2025

      Hello @scottb57470528,

      Would you mind trying to run Illustrator under Safe Mode (Windows) and checking if it helps? Also, try running Illustrator under a different administrator account (Windows / macOS) and share your observations.

      Looking forward to hearing from you.

       

      Anubhav

      BizzleZX10R
      BizzleZX10RAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      February 16, 2025

      Only tested it for 5 minutes but manually running it in administrator seems to help. I attempted to run it in safe mode by holding down control and opening the app but i didn't get the prompt

      Anubhav M
      Community Manager
      Anubhav MCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      February 27, 2025

      Hello @scottb57470528,

      Kindly let us know if it continues to work as expected under the other account. If yes, try manually resetting Illustrator's preferences under your primary account and checking if it helps:


      - Close all Adobe applications.

      - Go to Location C:\Users\%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Adobe

      - Rename Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Illustrator 29 Settings folders to Adobe Illustrator.old and Adobe Illustrator - 29 Settings.old

      - Relaunch Illustrator from Creative Cloud

       

      Disclaimer: Please note that renaming preferences folders will remove all the custom settings, and Illustrator will launch with default settings. You can also save a backup of the folders, the location of which is mentioned above.

      Looking forward to hearing from you.

       

      Anubhav

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