Copy and Paste stopped working

Question

Level 1

42 points

Copy and Paste stopped working

16Gb MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015) with Sierra 10.12.2 (16C67)

Copy and Paste stopped working between several applications, but not all. I started to notice it when copying from Chrome didn't copy anything to the clipboard. Then i tried from another application (Slack) and that worked fine, however i could not paste the content into Outlook.

So there are multiple applications involved, i have not tried all combinations.

I searched on the forum and there are no real solutions apart from "Try resetting the PRAM", "Try cleaning the cache" and "Reboot the Mac". I saw one post who requested to remove some Finder plist file. I cannot find that post anymore, so i cannot try this out.

What is happening here and how can i make this work again?

Thanks,

Ton.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, macOS Sierra (10.12.1)

Posted on Jan 20, 2017 7:15 AM

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Answer 1

vmsmac

Level 1

4 points

Oct 8, 2017 6:12 AM in response to Toontje

Try this:

Open a Finder window and navigate to Go > Hold down Options Key > Library > Preferences
Trash the following files

com.apple.finder.plist

com.apple.sidebarlists.plist

Perform the following tasks:
- Log out, then in again.
- Relaunch the Finder by choosing Force Quit from the Apple menu, selecting Finder, then clicking the Relaunch button.
Empty the Trash.

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Answer 2

macjack

Level 10

111,242 points

Jan 20, 2017 7:43 AM in response to Toontje

From your Finder "Go" menu hold the option key and choose Library. Then go to Preferences folder and trash these files:

com.apple.finder.plist

com.apple.sidebarlists.plist

Then, restart, or log out and in again.

(You will have to reset some finder prefs the way you like them.)

Then, restart, or log out and in again.

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Answer 3

Toontje Author

Level 1

42 points

Jan 20, 2017 10:55 AM in response to macjack

Ok, you are unwilling to elaborate. Forget it.

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Answer 4

tfurrey

Level 1

4 points

Jul 31, 2017 11:27 AM in response to Toontje

I removed both of the files listed and my copy and paste is still not working. It was pasting the same content over and over again. Now, since removing the suggested files, it is just not pasting anything?!?

I use this feature a LOT and have never had any issues?! Can you tell me why this all of a sudden stopped working and how I can fix it?!?

Thank you,
Tracy

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Answer 5

Toontje Author

Level 1

42 points

Jan 20, 2017 7:44 AM in response to macjack

Any idea what's happening?

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Answer 6

macjack

Level 10

111,242 points

Jan 20, 2017 7:45 AM in response to Toontje

If that worked for you it was corrupt preference files.

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Answer 7

Toontje Author

Level 1

42 points

Jan 20, 2017 7:47 AM in response to macjack

Well, yeah. I get that. But how could this happen? Why specifically those files? What do they do with regards to Copy/Cut and Paste? Give me some background information.

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Answer 8

macjack

Level 10

111,242 points

Jan 20, 2017 8:21 AM in response to Toontje

Preferences are small text files which can easily become corrupted. Copy/paste are functions of Finder.

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Answer 9

pin2high

Level 1

9 points

Apr 13, 2017 5:13 AM in response to macjack

Thanks, this worked for me and saved the day!

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