Cut/Copy/Paste stops working except pure text

Ruthie Rayne · 06 Dec 2017

I find that I can copy text within Notepad, Notepad++, etc. just fine. However, in most other programs, cut/copy/paste just does not work. This includes the address bar in Firefox/Chrome/Edge, etc. It's the same whether I use ctrl+x/ctrl+c/ctrl+v, right click, or use the menu. One thing solved the problem for about two months, and that was a restart. Then it started again. From another forum post, I tried restarting Windows Explorer through the task manager. This worked the first time I tried it for all of 5 minutes, but does not work anymore. Sometimes I need to be able to cut/copy/paste but can't restart at that moment. Is there anything else I can try? Does anyone know what causes this? Thanks!

EdTittel · 07 Dec 2017

Your variation on the problem is both interesting and vexing. Don't see many reports online of the Ctrl-C/X/V and equivalent menu commands working with text apps but not in other apps. All I can think of is to try launching another instance of the problem application (this will work for some, but not all, applications because some don't permit multiple instances to run in parallel). Another possible workaround would be to launch a Virtual Machine and see if the cut'n'paste functionality works in that runtime environment.
HTH,
--Ed--