When they going to fix the copy and paste in Firefox?

[Devastation36]

When they going to fix the copy and paste in Firefox? This has been on going for months now. When it does let me copy, then there are times when it will not let me paste. If I paste it to windows notebook and re-copy it it will then let me paste. I have cleared the cache, disabled add-ons nothing seems to help. The only thing Haven't tried yet is to uninstall Firefox and re-install it.

[JDTheBomb]

dom.event.clipboardevents.enabled in about:config was set to false for some odd reason

[JebusCrisco]

This fixed things for me. I've also been having issues with a password extension that I no longer have after changing this. Thank you!

[jscher2000]

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@JDTheBomb wrote:

dom.event.clipboardevents.enabled in about:config was set to false for some odd reason

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There are privacy guides (and user.js files) that recommend that change so sites cannot detect when you copy or paste. But they tend not to tell you about breakage on heavily scripted sites that can result from the change...

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

About

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uninstall Firefox and re-install it.

---

For information purposes

Uninstall Firefox from your computer
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/uninstall-firefox-from-your-computer
Does not delete user data and settings, your user profile
You reinstall Firefox, then you normally get your user profile back https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-remove-switch-firefox-profiles

If you'd like create a new profile
about:profiles https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-remove-switch-firefox-profiles#w_manage-...
Your current profile, this is the profile you're currently using; it can't be deleted ***.
Create a new profile
Simply enter the name you want and click Next.
Then stop Firefox start Firefox

And, it's a new profile

about:profiles
*** To return to a profile, then, Set as default profile
Then stop Firefox start Firefox

And don't delete your profile ***.

Don't delete your profile *** ? why

In a second step, if you wish
Go to about:profiles
Then
Your old profile ***, go to Root Directory [Open folder]
Explorer will open in the profile folder
Your newly created profile, go to Root Directory [Open folder]
Explorer will open in the profile folder
Then shut down Firefox

information is stored in my profile
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data#w_what-information-is-s...

Copy the data of your choice from your old profile to your newly created profile

Start Firefox

If you are in the profile ***
Then about:profile
Set as default profile your newly created profile
Then stop Firefox start Firefox

And if it's your newly created profile @ ok for you

Then, in a third step, if you wish
Go to about:profiles
Removing a profile ***
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-remove-switch-firefox-profiles#w_removin...
You can remove an existing profile as follows

---

Delete Files

---

This action deletes the profile, Root Directory + its Local Directory

[jscher2000]

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@Devastation36 wrote:

When they going to fix the copy and paste in Firefox? This has been on going for months now. When it does let me copy, then there are times when it will not let me paste. If I paste it to windows notebook and re-copy it it will then let me paste. I have cleared the cache, disabled add-ons nothing seems to help.

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Hi, is this a problem with the right-click context menu? Users have reported that starting recently, items on this menu will be grayed out, but the keyboard shortcuts still work:

• Copy = Ctrl+C (on Mac, Command+C)
• Paste = Ctrl+V (on Mac, Command+V)
• Paste without formatting = Ctrl+Shift+V (on Mac, Command+Shift+V)

In those situations, users report that clicking in the address bar then back in the document sometimes fixes the menu.

Does that sound like your situation, or are the keyboard shortcuts not working for you, either?

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One difference between copying from a page in Firefox and copying text in Windows Notepad is that Firefox typically puts both HTML code and text on the clipboard, and Notepad only puts text on the clipboard. Maybe this is a clue to figuring out why pasting isn't working consistently (some issue with the HTML Firefox is pulling off the clipboard).

----

Generally speaking, uninstall/reinstall can't fix problems caused by settings. One method to rule in/out an issue with settings or add-ons is:

New Profile Test

This takes about 3 minutes, plus the time to test your problem site(s).

Inside Firefox, type or paste about:profiles in the address bar and press Enter/Return to load it.

Take a quick glance at the page and make a mental note of which Profile has this notation: This is the profile in use and it cannot be deleted. That is your current default profile.

Click the "Create a New Profile" button, then click Next. Assign a name like Test2024, ignore the option to relocate the profile folder, and click the Finish button.

Firefox will switch your default profile to the new one, so click the Set as Default Profile button for your regular one to avoid an unwanted surprise at your next startup.

Scroll down to Test2024 and click its Launch profile in new browser button.

Firefox should open a new window that looks like a brand new, uncustomized installation. (Your existing Firefox window(s) should not be affected.) Please ignore any tabs enticing you to connect to a Sync account or to activate extensions found on your system to get a clean test.

Does copy/paste work any better in the new profile?

When you are done with the experiment, you can close the extra window without affecting your regular Firefox profile. (Test2024 will remain available for future testing.)

[SickRice]

open a new tab, change to it and back to the original. copy will work (or if you have allready a tab open, switch to it and back to the one that no woking will do the trick

[rdurost]

6/03/2024 and the idiocy continues.  You broke it, you fix it.

[gcmn]

I'm experiencing this same issue. I've recently switched to FF, but this is a deal-breaker that is going to cause me to switch back if it isn't fixed.

Symptoms are that copy and cut via the right click menu or the keyboard shortcuts don't actually copy anything to the clipboard (cut does delete the selected text). Copying from another program and then pasting into Firefox works. `dom.event.clipboardevents.enabled` is set to `true` (just had to manually type that config key after reflexive copy-paste failed...). I tried the fresh profile suggested by jscher2000 (just had to manually type the username...) but the issue persists.

The last time this happened a few weeks ago, it went away when I restarted my computer. Sorry, but I'm not going to reinstall Firefox or refresh and reconfigure all my add-ons every few weeks. Improved add-ons (especially the ability to have them on mobile) was why I switched in the first place.

[Luca_Pavan]

I’m not sure if I’m having the same problem as you describe, because I often use the mouse wheel to paste (so highlighting text and pasting by clicking the mouse wheel), this doesn't require clicking Copy from the context menu or Ctrl+C precisely. Are you sure you aren't using both copy and paste Ctrl+C/Copy methods and the mouse wheel alternating them often making confusion with the text actually copied? To me seems happening right this, I might being confused between the 2 and then sometimes doesn't paste anything or paste a text that I don't expect.

[ccccmmmm]

I have the same problem. For a while, using the context menu didn't work, but the keyboard shortcuts worked. Now even the keyboard shortcuts won't work anymore. Dismay.

[randFireFox]

I just hit this problem again. cut and paste stopped working when using Google Docs with Firefox. I've got Firefox 126.0.1 on Linux Mint. I try to copy the name of a Google Doc and paste it as the title, and I get the window that uselessly tells me that cut and paste from the menus are disabled, but I can use Ctrl-c and Ctrl-v (which I can't because I get the same error window when I use them).

I really want to use FireFox because i like the community software model and FF's better privacy features, but I am going to have to go back to Chrome until this is fixed. I see Internet posts going back years about this problem. I as a user need this fixed so it will stay fixed.

[boreal]

This open-source addon may be helpful to others, it seems to be resolving some of the issues w/r/t Firefox not copying: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/force-copy/ 

[rdurost]

6/24 and this most basic functionality has not been restored.

Yes, I know Firefox is a free product supported by volunteers, but I also know that if I was a volunteer programmer who worked on the update that intentionally or unintentionally (my bet is on the former, something to do with content protection?) had brought about this outrage, I wouldn't sleep until it had been fixed or at least EXPLAINED (e.g. "we're being sued over not preventing subversion of copyright protection, so we were forced to do this").

I suppose Mozilla might have been forced to agree to not only disabling the most direct way of copying text, but to sign an NDA that they will not disclose the lawsuit or their requirement to comply.

If that's the case, somebody outside the "blame zone" needs to drop an anonymous dime to bring this to light.

[konio124]

Nothing has changed, there is still a problem with copying, is it that difficult to fix?

[mechanysm]

Having this same issue, its exactly as described and its been ongoing for months, I have several add-ons ublock Origin and Bitwarden, also the Dark Reader addon which was added long after this issue started happening.

The description is correct, not sure what triggers it but you go to copy some text from a page and on right click you have a greyed out copy button, only recently found out that clicking in the address bar resolves it, which is that the text remains selected, you click the address bar then right click the already selected text you want to copy again and it allows you to copy it.

Personally I have no desire to move off of firefox or to another browser but when recommending firefox to others this is certainly a downfall I would mention at the moment as initially it was annoying but for how long this bug has been present its now extremely frustrating.

Yes I realize you can use keyboard shortcuts but why this a workaround at best, I would compare to not being able to make a phone call with you mobile phones normal speaker and mic but it works just fine if you use a Bluetooth headset.

On top of this I recently moved from Windows to an Arch based distro and the issue persists...

Please take this issue a little more seriously, every new release I look through the changes wondering what benefit most of them have when I can't copy of a page 25% of the time! lol its just silly.

[neetbux]

I'm really frustrated this copy issue still hasn't been resolved yet. Why isn't it getting priority?

[DreamingVoid]

Not sure if it is the same, but when I load a new tab and navigate to a page, the context menu's "Copy" is disabled until I click outside the page (I've used the address bar and search bar) and back in. Once clicked back in, the context menu entry is no longer disabled.

Ctrl+C works even when the context menu entry is disabled.

[noway]

How I can duplicate copy problem:

1. Go to google.ca and search for steelers news

2. Below the search box, change from All to News

3. Click on one of the search result links.

4. On the new page, highlight a word and right-click on it.  The copy option on the dropdown menu is grayed out (on many of the search result web sites.  Not all, but often enuf to be a hassle)

Workaround: highlight the address bar first, before selecting the text below and right-click copy. (or use a search engine other than Google)

[uid65534]

Still broken for me.

The issue seems to be time-gated. If I select text and immediately press Ctrl-C (within ~500ms), it doesn't copy. If I select text, wait for over one second, _then_ press Ctrl-C, it works fine always. This isn't easily reproducible though else I would file a bug report. I have seen this on both Windows and macOS builds (on entirely separate profiles and Mozilla accounts).

This is a very frustrating bug. I came to Firefox from Chrome because of the MV3 mess and the continued march towards locking down the browser but Firefox has so many little bugs and feature misses like this it makes it hard to recommend.

[GuruRamon]

You are so correct

[mikerj]

With each of the frequent updates I've been hoping this gets fixed but if anything it seems to have become worse rather than better.  This should be a high priority for the dev team, it's infuriating for users.

[srhaymes]

Yup, the copy problem only seems to only be getting worse over time.  It used to happen once and a while and now it is almost every time that I have to copy. Repeatedly creating a new tab and going to the webpage takes 3 or 4 tries to get copy to work. Restarting Firefox works, but it you are logged into any websites, you need to log back in. After months of this, one would think that this BUG would be fixed by now.

[randFireFox]

FWIW I have switched to Chrome for now. Not a fan, and would like to come back. I'll monitor this discussion thread and switch back if a fix is confirmed.

[LazyQuad]

I just switched from chrome about 6 months ago and this is a deal breaker..  Its definitely infuriating! My dom.event.clipboardevents.enabled is set to True but its still not working.

Believe it or not  I'm probably going to Edge - never thought I'd ever say that hahaa.

[srhaymes]

I have had the same problem on 2 Firefox installation for months now so it is NOT an installation problem that can be fixed by a reinstall. I update whenever Firefox tells me that there is an update. One would think that after several months of updates, Mozilla would fix this problem as copy and past is a real basic 101 type feature, but NO. I am a long time Mozilla user and contributor.  I need basics to work and not new bells and whistles!

[Btls_and_Crm]

Here's something I don't understand. Ctrl+c and v shortcuts weren't working and those functions were greyed out from the edit menu and the right-click context menu. I used a wikipedia page as testcase trying to copy text and paste it into the site's search field.

Taking a cue from a previous post here, I searched about:config for settings that included the word "clipboard". I found this one was set to 2:
accessibility.windows.suppress-after-clipboard-copy
and I pseudo-randomly decided to set it to 1, restarted Firefox and returned to that wikipedia page. Ctrl + c and v worked but the menus still had them greyed out. I reset the setting back to 2 and restarted again. All was fixed. The keyboard shortcuts worked and the menu items were no longer greyed out. Hopefully it is a permanent fix.

[CoMmAnDrX]

The fix is temporary, without going through the steps you did, just relaunching the browser would have netted the same results. Mozilla needs to fix this.

[CoMmAnDrX]

7 months and Mozilla still hasn't addressed the Copy & Paste issue with Firefox!

[Nikakto]

Guys, just use modern browser with active supporting by developers. Firefox is not one of them. Firefox dev team worse the ie have in past.

[Watynecc]

What other browser that is NOT based on chrome can I choose ?

[Supermindway]

I never thought the day would come, but I've switched over to Edge because of this, and I'm actually very happy with it. The vertical tabs is a game changer when you have tons of open tabs. The collections feature is also very good. It's also very fast. Firefox needs to improve a lot for me to return.

[Watynecc]

Vertical tab is peak u can use sideberry plugin for it

[bermany]

I use the document.oncontextmenu event to realise my own context menus. This should also be the case for <input> elements. To realise Copy & Paste I use navigator.clipboard and have not encountered any problems with Copy (writeText) so far. With readText, however, it only works if something has been copied from your own browser. Other sources cause the ‘Original’ context menu to appear, but only the ‘Paste’ option.
I cannot offer this to customers, so my recommendation is to use Chrome or Edge, where everything works.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

[randFireFox]

For what it's worth, I have moved on to Vivaldi on Linux and Android. I have been using it for several weeks. I have not run into any major problems so far.

[SunnyApe]

I might as well join the chorus. At first I thought I wasn't hitting the Ctrl-C / V keys correctly, as sometimes I could copy and paste, sometimes not. It's also random, as sometimes it affects some sites, sometimes, other times it has no effect. I'm running latest version on Win 11 64bit and having to use Notepad as an intermediate place to paste content so that I can re-copy it from there to an open tab in FF.

[yodaminium]

I was just affected by this starting with an upgrade to 131.

This is either on purpose or Mozilla has no clue why it is happening or whats causing it, or at least they aren't telling us. I have found nothing official anywhere-just what some people are assuming is the issue, a bug? a lawsuit? I mean...what gives Mozilla?

It IS a deal breaker for me, and probably anyone I imagine.

I thought it was Winblows doing it and so did that troubleshooting for about a week or more-waste of time.

It is definitely Firefox and only copy-I can paste anything copied from elsewhere INTO Firefox but cannot copy ANYTHING out of Firefox.

I tried copying from Chromium and pasting into Firefox and it works fine-not the other way around.

I tried copying from multiple applications into Firefox and works fine-not the other way around.

Going back more than a few versions of Firefox FINALLY resolved it for me.

My steps: backup bookmarks and saved password files

uninstall Firefox

delete left over folders in program files, program files x8x, programdata, all three user profile appdata sub directories (local, locallow (there was a Mozilla folder in here for the latest version only), roaming)

Search registry for Firefox and Mozilla and delete all instances found

Reboot

Re-install in descending order the following versions of Firefox, testing, then removing the failed version using the exact same steps as the first removal including the registry search's/deletions.

Firefox versions:

130.0.1

129.0b9

128.3.1esr

Finally I said **bleep** it and went a ways back to Firefox version 121.0b9

---after installing THIS version, copy is working again.

I feel safe using this old version, even if it does have some security vulnerabilities(they all do-even the latest version-nature of web browsers is all) simply because I use the below:

I have some very aggressive DNS block-lists at the firewall level blocking malicious IP/websites, advertising IP/domains, tracking IP/domains, etc,etc,etc

I also use ublock script blocker and fingerprinting extensions

IF this is on purpose it is browser suicide

Mozilla is purposely crippling it's own browser or being force to do so by some unnamed authority?

Who knows but it is simply crazy to think that people don't need to copy from their browsers--insane.

P.S-doing things the way I did makes looking at about:configs a moot point.

The complete demolition of Firefox on my PC ensured that ALL my about:config changes were wiped out and the default about:configs were used until I found out if copy was working or not.

For example, I now know that version 121.0b9 has a working copy function-I have not yet started with about:configs

I HAVE installed the 4x extensions I use and copy is STILL working-even after a browser restart.

SO, I also know the extensions are not doing it.

Automatic upgrades Mozilla - REALLY!!!!! - You know most users hate this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Especially with zero way to easily stop them from happening! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To prevent Firefox from upgrading itself: in Firefox settings set the "Check for updates but let you choose to install them" option under General Settings->Firefox Updates/Close Firefox

Then,

open services.msc from run or the command prompt - stop/disable the Mozilla maintenance service-I just uninstalled it=done

Then alter or remove permissions from Mozilla Update folders

go C:\ProgramData\Mozilla-1de4eec8-1241-4177-a864-e594e8d1fb38\updates\RANDOMNUMBER

leave the "update-config.json" file alone but delete anything else, including folders-this is an update waiting to install and if you go back 1 directory delete all files and folders form here except the one with the "update-config.json" in it.

Then back out to C:\ProgramData\ again and continue below.

find the Mozilla folder and right click it to open up the settings sheet and click the security tab

click advanced button

click change owner and change it to an administrative user

apply close everything and re-open it

click the button that says to disable inheritance

on the pop up window choose the "Convert inherited permissions into explicit permissions on this object" option

give all uses in the Permission Entries box the following permissions:

Read&Execute / List folder contents / Read

all other permissions should have no check in the box

check the box that says "Replace all child object permission entries with inheritable entries from this object"

click ok/apply and once done close everything and re-open Firefox

You may get errors about not being able to write to the update folder-this will only happen IF Firefox disregards your settings and checks and tries to download the updates anyways

In my experience you only get the popup error when you click anything in Firefox->settings->general settings tab->Firefox updates section

You also might see a green dot on the 3-dot Firefox menu in the upper right-this is just Firefox telling you there is a new version available and can be ignored-if you click it-you might get a message about not being able to automatically update Firefox and asked if you wish to manually download the updates versions.

I just ignore all of this.

I will also monitor if this issue is fixed as I do not WANT to use an outdated version, I feel I am being forced to do so by the copy is broken bug even though I can always use Chromium (open Source) and/or Vivaldi (to get the DRM plugin for streaming video) I do not want to use those browsers as google has their filthy claws in them and it is 10 this harder to block all the privacy invasion and tracking.

I feel that a old insecure version of Firefox is STILL way more secure than chrome or any chrome based browser. AS fa as Privacy and tracking goes anyways.

[IamYodaminium2]

OK update;

The outdated version started being affected by the copy/paste bug about 3 days later.

I uninstalled it and deleted the left overs same as all the other times.

Re-installed the latest and greatest version and still no copy/paste.

SO, I figured ah screw it-installed Vivaldi and made it my default browser.

At short time later (1-2 days) I am cleaning out UN-used apps from my PC.

I UN-installed Edge deflector when I seen it thinking it had nothing to do with this issue but it had been borked for a while and was not working properly so I got rid of it. I also uninstalled Revo uninstaller.

I reboot and test Firefox-still no copy/paste.

Next day I have Firefox and Vivaldi open to different sites and for different purposes.

I accidentally copied a URL from Firefox's address bar to Vivaldi's address bar and it WORKED!

SO-I am assuming that this was being caused by Edge Deflector or some Windows update that interacted with Edge Deflector in a bad, unexpected way OR  some unknown random glitch that eventually work itself out as I did not uninstall any extensions and the only two major changes in my PC since this started happening were the uninstall of Edge Deflector or Revo Uninstaller.

I am here to ask if anyone else has Edge Deflector installed to uninstalled it and reboot and test copy/paste in Firefox-keeping in mind it did NOT work for me immediately after the reboot.

BUT, the very next day it was and is still working again, I just tested it once more and it IS working now.

It is driving me bat **bleep** crazy not knowing WHAT actually caused it and what fixed it.

Remember this "bug" survived through multiple uninstall/reinstall of 3-4 separate versions AND the cleaning out of all Firefox traces in between each install/reinstall.

It's mystery that was MOST likely caused by Edge Deflector or Edge Deflector in combo with a fairly recent Windows update. I'd like to know for sure just to avoid that crap at all cost in the future.