Re: [libreoffice-users] copy function not working

At 20:04 10/05/2018 +0900, Thomas Blasejewicz wrote:
> I am using Ver. 5.2.6.2 (and some other minor variations) on a 
> Windows 10 machine and having trouble with "copying text". I think, 
> this problem has not yet appeared on other machines.
>
> Problem: Select a text portion in one application -> move to Writer 
> -> Ctrl+V (paste).

That's not a "problem" until you say what doesn't happen as you 
expect! And you shouldn't expect to paste anything in LibreOffice 
just because you selected it in another application: you need to 
*copy* it there first.

> (copy "text only" does NOT help)

This has to be in the other, unspecified application, so no-one can 
say anything about that. Or do you mean pasting unformatted text?

> However, what shows up is a text portion selected earlier and NOT 
> the one selected just now.

Applying Occam's razor, the simplest interpretation is merely that 
the copy process did not operate correctly. Since you will normally 
get no visual or audible feedback of the success of a copy operation, 
it is very easy to think you have completed one when it hasn't 
happened properly. Without the copy happening properly, what will be 
on the clipboard is what was previously there, of course: hence your 
observed problem. Many are the times when I have selected required 
material and pasted something else, having forgotten to copy the 
selection or perhaps fumbled doing so. Another easy trick is to copy 
material and then perform minor changes involving copying in the 
target document before pasting it, forgetting that this will 
overwrite the clipboard contents.

Are you performing the copy (if you are doing it at all!) using 
Ctrl+C or using a menu item or toolbar button in the other 
application? The first thing to suspect would be a hardware problem 
making that process flaky. Is your Ctrl key reliable? Does the other 
Ctrl key work better or suffer from the same problem? Is the C key 
problematic? Do you need to empty your keyboard of crumbs? Does it 
need new batteries? Is your left mouse click sometimes unreliable? 
What happens if you try an alternative mouse?

> When I do the Ctrl+V (paste) trick in a text editor, the text 
> portion in question shows up just fine.

That cannot be explained by the above - except that any such 
intermittent fault will show up confusing results such as this. But 
remember that the clipboard is a facility of the operating system or 
other application, not either of the applications between which you 
are attempting to transfer material. So you shouldn't immediately 
suspect LibreOffice.

> This happens SOMETIMES but not always. (it is nevertheless very annoying).

So it is indeed an intermittent problem, either with the hardware or the user.

> Currently I have to close Writer and reopen it to "solve" this problem.

I'd strongly suggest that this is a red herring, and merely another 
symptom of intermittent behaviour.

> Is there something a little smarter that can be done?

Get someone to watch you work and see exactly what is happening. Can 
you reproduce the problem under such conditions?

I trust this helps.

Brian Barker (who happens just today to have needed to replace the 
batteries in his keyboard)


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