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

[imageshift]

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

[Monika Gause]

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

[imageshift]

I get the same result. 

[kphotopage · Accepted solution]

Robert Hi.

Copy your text in Illustrator.

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

K

[imageshift]

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.

[careyslade]

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!

[malak_kandil6774]

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

[careyslade]

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

[Tahoedog24]

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?

[Monika Gause]

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

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

[Tahoedog24]

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 

[careyslade]

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

[brady@thecentralbranch.com]

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

[astronauticalvelociraptor]

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. 

[Monika Gause]

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@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. 

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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).

[cydward]

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.

[malak_kandil6774]

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