Copy & Paste not always working - randomly

[Shigaugis]

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

[tpdccm]

The menu has the same behaviour, sometimes you have to click it 10 times for copy to be visible in that same menu. We recently did a clean install of windows 11, no extra programs only adobe. Same problem.

And in a working enviroment not running a browser to get rid of a problem within illustrator. That is not realy a solution.

Copy paste works in other programs only adobe programs are having problems. Copying elements from illustrator to photoshop als does not work sometimes.

Same goes for acrobat copy text from a pdf sometimes works and sometimes does not.

All the wile in other programs copy paste just works. For instance if i have to copy text from a pdf to illustrator it does not work. I then first copy the text to notepad and from notepad into illustrator that works.

When having element in illustrator that you want to copy to another illustrator file or just in the same file it does not work. Even dragging from one to the other file sometimes does not work. Now i first save the file and then import the file. For simple logos or style elements this is very annoying.

It all takes up much time just to copy an element it does not matter what element you select text or an object. Clicking multiple time in the menu on copy, and than waiting for paste to get selectable is no way of working.

I just tried again closed all programs opened illustrator, made a square, then edit -> copy, no paste option clicked it 4 times and yes i can paste the element.

What i often also use is the +icon in the layers pannel an drag the element on that icon to make a copy. Also not very efficient to do when you have a large working screen.

[Monika Gause]

Do you have ProofPoint installed?

[tpdccm]

no

[Monika Gause]

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@tpdccm  schrieb:

no

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Please contact Customer Care and have them check it out: https://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html

They can login to your system.

[Alex Venneker]

I don't know if it is wise to let Adobe "login to your system". The last time I had them to that I had to reinstal my whole system. True story. No joke.

[Monika Gause]

I don't know if it is wise to let Adobe "login to your system". The last time I had them to that I had to reinstal my whole system. True story. No joke.

By @Alex Venneker

Then you have to figure it out yourself. 

Or hand your computer to an outside expert to figure it out.

But most probably it is just some other app interfering.

[Alex Venneker]

Why is it so hard for you to believe it is an Adobe problem? A problem they do not fix? 

[Monika Gause]

Because it's just not a general issue. 

Many people experience problems with it, but many more don't. Otherwise these forums would be a different place.

[tpdccm]

I had the same, with them, told them i had a multi monitor setup, with large screens, they said no problem. They did not solve anything and screwed up all my settings.

[HubertusausBerlin]

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-... ) 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)

[Monika Gause]

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.

[HubertusausBerlin]

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.

[sferris77]

Sometimes though even the menu will be grayed out and not give you the option of copying. I had an adobe person adjust a bunch of permissions in my adobe files and that had fixed it for a while until it just started happening again last friday. This is ADOBE's problem and they need to fix it!

[Monika Gause]

This is ADOBE's problem and they need to fix it!

By @sferris77

It's only happening on some systems, not all. 

[sferris77]

If it's not Adobe's problem, why did it take an adobe professional to go in and change permissions on the supporting folders that adobe generates to fix it the first time?

[Monika Gause]

If it's not Adobe's problem, why did it take an adobe professional to go in and change permissions on the supporting folders that adobe generates to fix it the first time?

By @sferris77

Changing permissions on your system is something that you can also do yourself when you know what to change. 

[Monika Gause]

Could be that a third party app intercepts (steals) your modifier keys (ctrl, cmd, alt, etc.). 

[HubertusausBerlin]

But here I would also say that there is (also) a problem with the programme. I presume it can't be intended that you have to change any permissions under the bonnet in the system so that basic standard commands such as Copy and Past via keyboard shortcuts work as a matter of course in all other Creative Suite programmes.

The question is, why does Illustrator have this problem? There are no such problems in the other Creative Suite programmes. It would be somewhat crazy if a programme, especially such a highly developed professional programme, could not cope with the fact that other programmes also use these functions.

Now it doesn't seem to affect just one system, but, if I've got it right, over several years, various versions and very different systems with different configurations. So it's not a temporary, exotic isolated case and has been plaguing some users for a long time. If only problems that everyone really has were fixed, then some important and essential fixes would probably not exist. 🙂

It would be great and some users would be very happy if Adobe could take care of the problem. Perhaps there is a solution to the problem after all.

It really is quite an annoying problem 😉

....

In the meantime, I have had my system checked again (SFC/scannow), but no error was found. Unfortunately, I don't know how to fix the problem at the moment.... 😞

[HubertusausBerlin]

@sferris77 Do you happen to remember which permission you had to change and exactly where? And have you perhaps now tried again successfully?

[Monika Gause]

The clipboard is used by all applications and Illustrator happens to have some complicated content (with its appearances and all). Some antivirus apps happen. to not like that and might even ruin it when checking it. Some other apps intercept shortcut keys (browsers and their plugins are famous for that, seems like their developers simply do not care about anything). 

You might want to try if running Illustrator in Safe mode helps. Because if it does, then the issue is with something in your system. 

[tpdccm]

This does not help, it even happens with just plain text.

[Monika Gause]

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@tpdccm  schrieb:

This does not help, it even happens with just plain text.

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This is a long messy thread and it's unclear what you are referring to. Can you please elaborate?

[tpdccm]

Copy pasting in adobe programs that is what this is about.

[Monika Gause]

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@tpdccm  schrieb:

Copy pasting in adobe programs that is what this is about.

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Obviously, since it's in the Illustrator forum.

So what did you try and what is not working. Is this about the shortcuts not working? Or the function not working in general? Pasting the wrong things? Not pasting at all? Or not even copying?

Did you try it in Safe Mode? Did you uninstall or disable all the other apps that can interfere? Did you check out a different keyboard? Uninstall additional keyboard drivers?

[tpdccm]

Tried everything, even a clean install with windows 11 no other programs but illustrator and photoshop. And normal keyboard it all does not resolve the issue, so i used my logitech keyboard again. Have been dealing with this for years. Had adobe support look at it several times, did not resolve anything, left me with a messed up monitor setup.

You have to use CTRL C for 5 or ten times for the element, even a simple box, or plain text to copy. If i am lucky i can paste it. It is so annoying. And same goes for the menu item copy, have to select it multiple times for paste to deghost and be selectable.

Between illustrator and photoshop i now just drag the element into photoshop that always works. But copy paste is a drama.

I did everyt thing clean install, removed all settings (wich adobe support also messed up had to do everything over again). Had this problem in windows 8, 10 and now 11.

In a working enviroment with deadlines this is not very efficient to work.