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4

Text copied in Illustrator gets pasted outside of Illustrator as an Image

Community Beginner ,
Nov 12, 2020 Nov 12, 2020

Text copied within Illustrator gets pasted outside of Illustrator as an Image or if I try to use that text to name the file, it pastes nothing at all.

 

Example:

If I copy any text from Illustrator into the clipboard, when I paste into Word or an Email or Mac Notes, or Text Edit, or to name that illustrator file, ....the text is converted to an image.

 

I can however paste that same copy into the Email Address line or another Adobe product or to name a folder on my desktop. Just a few quick examples.

 

This is a relatively new problem after using it for 25 years.

 

Anyone? Thanks >Robert

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Advocate , Nov 13, 2020 Nov 13, 2020

Robert Hi.

Copy your text in Illustrator.

For Word, Click on the Paste option icon, select Keep Text Only.

 

K

Word Paste options.png

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Community Expert ,
Nov 12, 2020 Nov 12, 2020

What happens when you select the text instead of the text object?

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Community Beginner ,
Nov 12, 2020 Nov 12, 2020

I get the same result. 

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Advocate ,
Nov 13, 2020 Nov 13, 2020

Robert Hi.

Copy your text in Illustrator.

For Word, Click on the Paste option icon, select Keep Text Only.

 

K

Word Paste options.png

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Community Beginner ,
Nov 13, 2020 Nov 13, 2020

Great - Thanks!

 

That works for Word.

 

That led me to discover for Text Editor and Notes, I can go to the top menu or shortcut keystroke to choose "Paste and Match Style".

 

For Mac Mail, you can go to preferences to change Composing/Message Format to "Plain Text"... which is a bit much, but it will work. 

 

However - I still can't use the text from Illustrator for renaming the file or paste to Messages for example. 

 

There should be a way to pull the text as "Plain Text" without formatting.

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 27, 2021 Jan 27, 2021

I'm having the same problem. I'm wanting to copy text from Illustrator and paste it into Keynote but when I do this it copies across as an image. There aren't any options to 'Keep text only' in Keynote. The work around is to copy it into Word (by clicking on the stupid paste button and selecting Keep text only) and then from there copying it across to Keynote but this wastes time and is clumsy, surely Adobe must've fixed this bug by now. You've known it about it for some time!

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New Here ,
Jan 15, 2025 Jan 15, 2025

well what i do is i copy the text from illustrator and then i paste it in the search bar of safari and recopy it and it works

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 29, 2025 Jan 29, 2025
LATEST

It's 2025 and this is still an ongoing issue! Seriously Adobe get it together and actually fix this.

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Community Beginner ,
Mar 31, 2023 Mar 31, 2023

Has anyone found a solution to this? It is very frustrating. I used to be able to copy text from Illustrator and paste anywhere else as needed. Destination settings should not matter. Any luck?

 

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Community Expert ,
Mar 31, 2023 Mar 31, 2023

So you are copying the text and not the text object?

Where are you pasting? And what do those manufacturers say about it?

 

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Community Beginner ,
Mar 31, 2023 Mar 31, 2023

Yes, copying the text, not the object. I've been working profesionally in Illustrator for over 20 years. Something changed within the lasy tear or two (on Mac version)

 

It happens in any other software I try to paste the text. Email, Pages, iMessage ... etc

 

They changed the matrix, lol 

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Community Beginner ,
Mar 31, 2023 Mar 31, 2023

I'm still having the same problem 3 years later, Adobe hasn't done anything to try and fix it, it's unbelieveably frustrating!

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Community Beginner ,
Apr 04, 2023 Apr 04, 2023

I agree! I just don't get it either - how are not more people having this issue?
Trying to copy text out of AI to basically ANYTHING - Mail (with and also removing HTML formatting), Notes, google docs, Text, WhatsApp - Comand-V, Command Shift V - they are all pasting it as an image.
On Mac Mini M1

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Explorer ,
Aug 29, 2023 Aug 29, 2023

Yeah, I never had this problem until today. Been using Illustrator for 10+ years. It shouldn't matter where you're pasting it. Please fix this. 

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Community Expert ,
Aug 29, 2023 Aug 29, 2023

@astronauticalvelociraptor  schrieb:

Yeah, I never had this problem until today. Been using Illustrator for 10+ years. It shouldn't matter where you're pasting it. Please fix this. 


 

Well, it does matter, because it's the receiving application that has to offer the capabilities. And Mac OS has changed its copy paste behaviour. 

When you e.g. copy a link from a web page by right clicking it and then from the menu "Copy link" (in Safari)

and then you paste that, then what Mac OS pastes is not an URL, but the text from the web page with the link (and sometimes even without the link).

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Explorer ,
Jul 01, 2024 Jul 01, 2024

Except that we can still copy and paste out of InDesign with none of the problems that we're having with Illustrator. I can't paste text (that I highlighted with the text cursor - not just the block) from Illustrator into anything on the Mac. Not even Notes. It's always an image. But I can highlight some text in InDesign and paste it ANYWHERE and it pastes actual text. That tells me that this is not an OS problem, but an Adobe problem. Still. In July 2024.

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New Here ,
Jan 16, 2025 Jan 16, 2025

Well what i do is i copy the text from illustrator and then paste it in the search bar of safari and recopy it and it works

 

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