image credit – funinformatique.com
You can’t copy and paste text from a page in Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or any other browser. It happens most often when a website doesn’t let people copy and paste text from its pages. Aside from that, this problem can also be caused by wrongly set up security settings, problems with the keyboard keys or the copy-and-paste shortcut, a clipboard cache that gets in the way, and interruptions from browser plugins and third-party clipboard managers.
Here are some things you can do to fix computers that won’t let you copy and paste.
Do Some Basic Checks
Before you try to fix hard things, try the following simple fixes:
- Start your computer over to make sure the problem isn’t just temporary.
- If you use third-party clipboard managers, you should turn them off or get rid of them for good.
- Open the website that won’t let you copy and paste in Private or Incognito mode.
- Don’t copy the whole page at once to see if the copy-and-paste tool works. Instead, copy the text into smaller pieces.
Also read – Bing Chat Is Coming In Third-Party Browsers
Turn off the Mini Menu option (only for Microsoft Edge)
Some users were able to fix the copy-and-paste problem by turning off the mini menu that shows when they select text in Microsoft Edge. It is said that this trait stops copying and pasting. So, if you have a problem with Microsoft Edge, you can turn it off by doing the following:
- Start using Microsoft Edge.
- Click the three horizontal dots in the top right spot and choose Settings.
- Go to the tab on the left called “Appearance.”
- Scroll down to the “Context menus” part, and turn off the switch next to “Show mini menu when selecting text.”
Check Browser Interference
If copy-paste doesn’t work again, check for browser interference. These fixes shut out this possibility:
- Clear your Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or any browser’s cache and cookies.
- Latest web browser update.
- Disable any browser addons that may interfere with copy-paste.
Check If the Issue is on Other Sites
Also read – Smooth Ways to Clear Cache in These Major Three Browsers
Some websites disable text selection and copying to prevent users from copying and reusing significant portions of their content. Therefore, ensuring that the issue is not limited to a single website is essential. You can verify this by copying and pasting text from a different website. If you can copy and paste text from other websites but not from a particular website, the problem is site-specific.
Check for Keyboard Has Issues
The CTRL + C and CTRL + V shortcuts are the most frequent means to copy and paste text. Check the keys if you can’t copy-paste text using the same method. The best approach to confirm is to copy and paste the text outside the browser. If you can’t copy and paste text from outside the browser, it may be the shortcuts or your keyboard.
Check Security Settings
When you copy a piece of text in Windows, a copy of it is briefly stored in the clipboard. The data is taken from there when you do the paste action in the next step. If the keyboard keys work fine everywhere else but not in your browser, it could be because your security settings don’t let you copy text from the browser to the clipboard.
Clear Clipboard History and Cache
Too much info on the clipboard can also make copying and pasting into apps hard. It’s more likely to happen if you’ve never cleared the clipboard file or history before.
Try Other Ways to Copy and Paste Text
If everything else fails and you still can’t copy and paste text regularly, use your browser’s context menu to copy and paste text. Even though it’s not the fastest way to copy and paste text, it works most of the time and is pretty reliable.
To copy text from a website, just highlight the text you want to copy, right-click on it, and choose Copy from the menu that comes up. Then, go to the text editor of your choice, right-click again, and choose Paste from the menu that pops up.
If neither of those works, you can install the Auto Copy extension, which copies text instantly when you select it.
