Text Converted to Outlines Upon Copy in Illustrator 2026 on Mac with Keyboard Maestro Installed

[Pariah Burke]

This is a heads-up and workaround for any other Mac users experiencing this problem with the release of Adobe Illustrator 2026.

Problem
Copying a live text object in Adobe Illustrator 2026 (point type, area type, or type on a path object) and then pasting pastes grouped outlines of the text instead of live text.

Does not occur in Adobe Illustrator 2023, 2024, or 2025 in same environment (confirmed date of this post).

Environment

MacOS Adobe Illustrator 2026 (30.0)
macOS Sequoia 15.7.1
Keyboard Maestro 11.0.4

Steps to Repeat Problem

1. Have Keyboard Maestro running on the computer (KM Engine active)
2. Create a text object on an artboard in Adobe Illustrator 2026
3. Select the object with the Black Arrow Selection Tool
4. Copy via CMD+C or Edit > Copy [Bug causes problem to happen here, but isn't obvious until next step.]
5. Paste via CMD+V or Edit > Paste
6. Examine pasted text object on Layers panel, with White Arrow Direct Selection Tool, in Outlines mode, or other means. The pasted text is a group of compound paths in the shape of the glyphs, i.e. the text has been converted to outlines as if the user selected Type > Create Outlines
   
   

Under-the-Hood Fix

Disabling the ability to copy as com.adobe.svg resolves the problem and allows unaltered copying of live text objects in Illustrator. However, disabling that is beyond the ability of most Illustrator Mac users.

Workaround for Any Skill Level

Any user of Adobe Illustrator 2026 with Keyboard Maestro should be able to follow these steps to accomplish a temporary workaround and restore unbroken copying (and subsequent pasting) of live text objects in Illustrator.

1. Open Keyboard Maestro Editor
2. Choose Settings from the Keyboard Maestro menu
3. Switch to the Excluded tab
   
4. Click the green plus symbol under the third paragraph
5. Select Adobe Illustrator 2026 from the menu that appears:
       a. If Illustrator is running, it will appear in the top section of the menu and can be selected from there.
       b. If Illustrator is not running, choose the Other menu command and locate & select Adobe Illustrator
   2026 at '/Applications/Adobe Illustrator 2026/Adobe Illustrator.app'
   
6. Close Keyboard Maestro Preferences

Keyboard Maestro's Clipboard History function (and palette) will ignore Copy actions in Illustrator '26.

[creative explorer]

@Pariah Burke thanks for the heads up—page bookmarked! 

[Monika Gause]

Keyboard Maestro is not the only app interfering with the clipboard. These ones have been identified:

• Parallels Toolbox running with the Clipboard History
• LogoTech Keyboard management software
• TeamVewer Clipboard > Use Shared Clipboard
• Apple iOS device simulator from Xcode
• Windows Multi-clipboard
• Windows Clipboard History
• Clippy
• Chrome Remote Desktop
• Mouse Pointer Highlighter
• AnyViewer
• Pastebot app
• Overzealous antivirus (Digital Guardian) as well as viruses that empty the clipboard
• Vector Magic
• Keyboard Maestro with Clipbboard History
• Clipboard apps named »Paste« and »Ditto«
• Windows 11 Multi-Clipboard
• Deepl translator app
• AMD Software Host Application
• An app called »Get Plain Text«