How To Copy / Paste ???

[DennisMiller]

Am I missing something here? In Windows, you can copy some something, then close whatever the program is, go into the other program and paste it, for example from a Word document to an email.

In Linux, when I copy, I have to minimize the program I'm in, open the program I want to paste in, then paste. If I close the program I copied from, the paste command isn't available to me in the newly opened program.

I can't imagine it is really intended to be that way, is it? I can't find an intuitive fix with my limited recently new use of Linux.

What do I need to do?

Thanks,
Dennis

[mick55]

This is a well documented Ubuntu bug that also appears in Linux Mint which is Ubuntu based.

It used to drive me nuts. I am used to it now.

It is not in Debian, on which Ubuntu is based, so somehow Ubuntu has accidentally
introduced this bug and apparently has no intention of fixing it.

They probably don't know how to fix it.

I don't know how long the bug has existed, I have only been using Mint since Mint 7
and it was in that too.

mick

[distrohopper]

You may want to investigate glipper. It is a clipboard manager which allows you to store multiple and previous cuts from various different programs. I personally never noticed a problem after closing an application and pasting, then again I usually paste before the other application is closed. Once glipper is installed, right click on your task bar, look for clipboard manager and add it. Clicking on the icon should bring up a list of previously stored cuts.

PS. Once you've downloaded, installed and added the glipper icon to your panel, open a terminal and type:

Code: Select all

pkill gnome-panel

This will force a reload and do 2 things.. 1.) ensure it's started properly, and 2.) remember it's position properly on the taskbar. Hope this helps.

[DennisMiller]

Thanks - I'll try it now...

Dennis

[MALsPa]

Interesting. I was not aware of this "bug." I guess I have never tried to copy/paste after closing the first application.

So, in the main (GNOME) versions of Mint, if glipper is not installed, how does copy/paste work? What is the clipboard tool that is used? I am familiar with klipper from KDE...

[MALsPa]

I'm confused. I tested this out here, in Mint 5 (Elyssa), in the main (GNOME) version. I copied something from gedit, then closed gedit, then opened other apps and pasted what I copied. Worked with no problem -- while I was using GNOME. However, in LXDE, which I also have installed, whatever I copy in gedit is "forgotten" once I close gedit. What's going on here? I don't have glipper installed.

[distrohopper]

So, in the main (GNOME) versions of Mint, if glipper is not installed, how does copy/paste work? What is the clipboard tool that is used? I am familiar with klipper from KDE...

I would suspect that theres some kind of native clipboard management going on. I too usually run KDE (with klipper running by default), and never had problems. It's also why I suggested glipper.. as I know with an external clipboard manager.. there tends to be less (possibly no) problems.

[MALsPa]

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipboard_manager:

The UNIX desktop environment KDE ships with Klipper. GNOME contains basic clipboard manager functionality in gnome-settings-daemon, part of gnome-control-center; it preserves clipboard contents on application close, supporting the freedesktop.org Clipboard Manager Specification. It is also possible to run more complex clipboard managers in GNOME, such as Klipper, Glipper or Java based ACM.

Wondering what desktop environment the OP was using.

Also wondering how to view the clipboard contents in GNOME when Glipper is not installed.

[mick55]

I'm confused. I tested this out here, in Mint 5 (Elyssa), in the main (GNOME) version.

Don't be confused, the bug probably did not exist in that version.

I don't know if it is in any version before Mint 7 Main Edition as that's when
I started using Mint and noticed the problem.

It has been mentioned numerous times here and at the Ubuntu forums,
although the threads are quite old.

mick

[MALsPa]

Check out the comment from Daniel Stone on December 29, 2004:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/11334

I believe the reporter has just discovered how X's clipboard mechanism works;
there is no persistent store. When you click 'copy', the source window simply
announces that it is claiming the CLIPBOARD selection (others to claim include
PRIMARY and SECONDARY). When you click 'paste', that window is queried for the
contents of the selection. If the window[0] does not exist, it cannot be
queried, and thus you cannot paste.

[0]: Not window as such, but connection to the X server. As soon as that
instance has no connection, it's out.

The rest of that thread has some interesting posts, too. It seem that the root of the issue is not a bug, if I'm understanding things correctly.

[Pilosopong Tasyo]

It's not a bug. It's a security feature.

[mick55]

It's not a bug. It's a security feature.

Exactly.

Thanks for the link to the bug report MALsPa. If you read it all the way through
you can see most folks aren't buying the official BS response where a "bug" is
re-classified as a security feature because they don't know how to fix it.

It works the way it should in Debian, and apparently it worked in early
versions of Ubuntu and Linux Mint.

To the Ubuntu devs:-

"Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining"


mick

[DataMan]

<CTRL> C
<CTRL> V

- Worked last time I checked in Mint 8 64 bit.

?

-DataMan

[mick55]

Hi DataMan

No one said copy/paste doesn't work. The OP said:-

In Linux, when I copy, I have to minimize the program I'm in, open the program I want to paste in, then paste. If I close the program I copied from, the paste command isn't available to me in the newly opened program.

Copy/paste that way and let us know if it works.

thanks
mick

[StanTheMan]

Text in an Open Office document can be selected , copied , then pasted into a text editor such as Gedit. Saved temporarily they copied and pasted elsewhere such as e-mail .

[MALsPa]

Am I missing something here? In Windows, you can copy some something, then close whatever the program is, go into the other program and paste it, for example from a Word document to an email.

In Linux, when I copy, I have to minimize the program I'm in, open the program I want to paste in, then paste. If I close the program I copied from, the paste command isn't available to me in the newly opened program.

Funny thing is, I don't think I've ever copied something, then closed the application, then pasted into another application. At least, not until I saw this thread. I don't remember ever doing it in Windows, and never in Linux. I always just keep both applications open until I'm finished with whatever I'm doing.

Anyway...

Since reading this thread, I've tried the steps (copy, close app, paste into another app) in the following environments:

GNOME in Mint 5 (without Glipper installed) -- works
LXDE in MInt 5 -- doesn't work
KDE in Mint 5 and in Mepis 8 -- works (Klipper is present)
Xfce in Mepis 8 -- doesn't work


By the way: If you are running GNOME you can also install Klipper instead of Glipper. I know that this means -- horrors! -- mixing KDE and GNOME on the same system, but it's really not such a terrible thing to do, and some people do prefer to use Klipper instead of Glipper, even in GNOME. In a Lubuntu review that came out recently (http://jeffhoogland.blogspot.com/2010/0 ... eview.html), the reviewer mentioned that "klipper is typically one of the first things I install on any non-KDE distro I use."

Another thing that I would like to point out here, for those who are new to Linux, is that in Linux you can highlight text and then use the middle mouse button to paste it. Or you can paste with the left button and right button held down at the same time, which emulates the middle mouse button -- that's what I usually do. Either way, it turns out to be a time-saver because all you have to do is highlight text and then paste it, skipping the "copy" step. Another reason that I prefer this method is that it seems to be the easiest way to paste code into a terminal.

[DennisMiller]

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipboard_manager:

Wondering what desktop environment the OP was using.

Being totally new at this, I'm not sure what you mean by "desktop environment"... A buddy got me interested in Linux and brought me a mint cd to install. I love the feel of it, but I'm not a technical person at all, so let me know where to look and I'll get back to you about the desktop environment.

Thanks,
Dennis

[Oscar799]

Hello DennisMiller,
If you have the Main Edition of Mint your desktop environment will be Gnome.
An easy way to check is look at your Menu icon with the Mint logo on it,if the logo is green your desktop environment is Gnome,if the icon is blue its KDE.
Hope that helps