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

Devastation36
Making moves

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.

11 REPLIES 11

JDTheBomb
Making moves

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

Agentvirtuel
Contributor

Hello

About


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
Leader

@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.


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?

----

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
Making moves

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
Making moves

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

gcmn
Making moves

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
Familiar face

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
Making moves

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
Making moves

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
Making moves

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
Making moves

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.