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Question

Why are things copied from Photoshop not able to paste in other programs?

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
July 29, 2021
7 replies
2854 views

Scenario: I'm creating a YouTube cover graphic in Photoshop, and I have typed the title of the video into a text box in Photoshop. I want to copy the title text and paste it into the file name when exporting an image, paste it into Premier and/or AfterEffects for title animations and file names, and paste it into Word (because it's the title of the document when I write up the transcript).

Problem: Nothing I copy in Photoshop will paste anywhere else. Not in text boxes, note pads, email, or other Adobe programs. I litterally can't do the "work around" suggested in other threads of pasting text into a plain-text format, because Photoshop doesn't seem to load the text to the universal clip board. Also, if I re-order my work flow so that I'm copying the title elsewhere, it's a 50/50 chance whether or not photoshop will recognize the text on the clipboard, regardless of where I copy it from. (I realize re-typing a video title 5 times isn't a huge deal breaker, but copy-paste is 100x faster and there's no chance of typos.)

Yes, I have updated Photoshop and all my other Adobe programs. I'm working on a Windows 10 PC, and yes, it's up to date. Yes, I've updated my graphics cards. Yes, I've restarted the computer (twice).

What am I missing? Why won't Photoshop play nice with the universal clip board?

KShinabery212

Community Expert

I have always been able to copy past things from one application to another.
Granted a Photo in Photoshop will always be a raster in Illustrator.
What kind of computer are you using?
One should have no problem with copy and pasting text.
Providing you are using the text tool in another program.

S

SIM90

Participating Frequently

I was copying images, not text,

S

SIM90

Participating Frequently

I've just updated my PC and had to re-buy Photoshop (it was 20 years old!). I've always selected images, then copied them and pasted into Word. This new Photoshop won't do it. I am 90 I don't want an elaborate method to do such a simple operation please.

Zebra JamieAuthor

Known Participant

So for me, the issue resovled itsself after a couple of updates. I just have to make sure the clipboard is set to Export. If you go to Edit>Preferances, in the first general tab, you'll see the settings. This is what mine look like:

(I underlined the important setting for the copy-paste function in red.)

Hope this helps!

KShinabery212

Community Expert

Hi Zebra Jamie
Thank you for your helpful reply and suggestion. I have used Photoshop for 30 years but have had to update to the present basic one after updating my computer. I'm dismayed by the messy layout and extras which I do not need but realize I must plod through further before getting extra help.
Juliet

I think with all software it evolves over time.
Just because one person does not use certain features does not mean others do not.
I think exploring the features will help you evolve as well.
I started Photoshop in 1994, and I still learn new things and become familiar with new tools.
I think you will find some of the new things speed up workflow and make things a million times easier.
You got this.

KShinabery212

Community Expert

If you highlight the text, you should be able to copy it into several Adobe programs.

Granted I usually copy and past things within the realms of Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.

Trevor.Dennis

Community Expert

I'm guessing that you already know that you can save the psd and bring that into Premiere Pro and choose to keep it layered. The layers are automatically placed in their own bin, which has the name you saved the PSD file as.

I prefer to add titles, other text and overlays this way. You make your Photoshop document the same size as your sequence, and the text and other content are positioned in PremPro exactly as they are in Photoshop. The layer names are kept making asset management easier. If you are worried about safe areas for titles, then make or find a template and put in a CC Library so it is always instantly available. You can right click the content in the Timeline and chose to Edit in Photoshop.

You can use layer effects and all those things that Photoshop is so much more powerful than PremPro at. The only thing it falls down on is that, AFAIK, you can't add content to the PSD and have it appear in the PremPro bin. Not even if you close and reopen the PremPro project after saving the updated PSD file. You have to use a new PSD in Photoshop.

But I'm betting you already knew all that.

Zebra JamieAuthor

Known Participant

That's a great option for when I need the cover incorporated in a video, but I frequently don't bother, as the cover images I work on are very different from the video content. But the process you describe is great for lower-thirds and other graphcis. Also, since I just have a really basic cover, I don't update the name of the PSD file to the name of the project all the time. Literally, all I change is the text and then export a fresh JPG to be uploaded on YouTube with the video. This one file has worked for dozens of videos before, but it's just recently that the copy-paste feature is glitching.

melissapiccone

Community Expert

There is a preference to not export clipboard...

Melissa Piccone | Adobe Trainer | Online Courses Author | Fine Artist

Zebra JamieAuthor

Known Participant

My clipboard is checked to export.

J E L

Community Expert

@Zebra Jamie Sounds frustrating for sure. This should be working if the type tool and text layer are selected. I assume you are mousing over the text to highlight all of it and using Ctrl C / Ctrl V. If you try through the Edit > Copy option, are you still unable to paste the text into another application? If you can use that method but not the keyboard shortcuts it could be you need to reset or restart Windows Explorer. Close everything you have open. Launch the Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc). In the Processes tab, right-click Windows Explorer and select Restart. Launch Photoshop and try again.

Also, is this happening only with the video cover graphics template you are using? If you open a new document and add one text layer can you cut and paste normally?

Zebra JamieAuthor

Known Participant

I've tried keyboard shortcuts, right-clicking to get the little pop-up menu, and using the top-bar menu (under "Edit"). None of it works. I can paste into the same Photoshop file, but anything outside of Photoshop doesn't even have the option to paste anything.

If I close everything, double-check all the processes are closed in the Task Manager, restart Photoshop, and test the text on a blank canvas, it works! But then I open the video cover file and it stops working--across all files that are open. So that new document that I created where it worked? Yeah, no longer playing nicely with the others.

So maybe there's a setting or tiny corruption in that document that's upsetting whatever secret processes govern what is and isn't clip-board-able?

Derek Cross

Community Expert

You can copy and paste text you've got in a Photoshop document into another document – if you can't do it, it may be because the text has been rasterised i.e. it isn't live text any more.

Zebra JamieAuthor

Known Participant

No rasters here. It's all in a text box. Doesn't matter if it's a paragraph block or single-line. I've tried both ways.

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