When dragging or copying and pasting text objects in Microsoft Works, the following error message may appear “the information you have copied exceeds the size limit to be pasted into the word processor”.
This can occur if an HTML document stores Rich Text Format (RTF) images in table cells to maintain correct spacing, and all Works documents are automatically converted to RTF files. This conversion process takes a long time to transfer, so to protect our computer, Works automatically stops the data transfer after a certain amount of time.
Of course, when making use of the functionality of copying and pasting contents between programs in Windows, we must take into account that these must be compatible. What we want to tell you is that, for example, certain text editors will not allow us to paste certain elements copied to the clipboard on the work desk. For example, if we are working with a basic plain text text editor, it is most likely that it will not paste a photo that we have copied into this Windows element.
This is something that is extensible to most of the elements that we can use with this specific function. It is important to know that here we can copy all kinds of content for later pasting, from a letter to a complete video file. Hence, we must be sure that the destination where we are going to copy that content is compatible with it.
Why does this function fail?
It is rare to find that a function as basic and simple as this stops working. However, it is not impossible, and when it happens it can give us more than one headache. There are several reasons why this feature may fail, but the most frequent, and the first to check, are:
- keyboard not working. It may happen that one of the keys (for example, the Control) has been damaged or has been blocked. It may also happen that another program is taking control of said key and, therefore, we cannot copy or paste. Therefore, one of the most effective solutions in this case is to test that device that could be damaged, on some other computer and make use of the described function.
- There is a virus on the PC. If our computer is infected by malware, then this could be responsible for this feature not working properly. The simple way to solve it: analyze our computer with an antivirus and eliminate the threats. In fact, we recommend that you carry out a complete scan of the computer with the most complete analysis function offered by the installed antivirus. For example, this is something that we can do quickly with Windows Defender, the antivirus that we no longer find pre-installed in the operating system.
- clipboard not working. If the Windows clipboard has been blocked for some reason, what we copy cannot be saved in said section, and, therefore, it will be like we are not copying anything. Precisely for all this, we will talk about some programs that act as alternative clipboards to the one included in the Microsoft system.
- windows is damaged. If the operating system is corrupted, for whatever reason, some of its most basic functions may stop working. In that case, what we should do is try to repair it, either by restoring a restore point, installing the latest versions, or, in the worst case, restoring the entire PC. It can also be extremely useful for us to update the operating system to its most recent version sent by Microsoft itself.
- Combination compatibility issues. We currently use a multitude of key combinations in different programs for multiple tasks. Therefore, without us noticing, on some occasions, some incompatibilities may arise with certain keyboard shortcuts that we regularly use in Windows, as is the case at hand.
- The target program does not support the content. There are certain applications in Windows in which we cannot paste certain contents that we have previously copied to the clipboard of the operating system. Hence, we must be careful when choosing both the origin and the destination of all this content that we are going to pass through the Windows element.
Most Common Quick Fixes
The reasons why this function is not working as it should can be very varied. They may be the fault of some process in the operating system or some application. For this reason we are going to try to see all the causes for which it may be failing, starting with those that have a more frequent solution. Without a doubt, before complicating our lives, the first thing we must do, something that solves many problems in Windows, is to restart the computer in its entirety.
This is something that, for example, we can carry out directly from the system start menu, either by turning it off or using the reset function. On more occasions than we imagine, this solves many of the bugs that we find in the Microsoft system, something that could also happen with the copy and paste function.
We recommend trying these solutions that we are going to expose you until we completely solve the problem we have with the copy and paste function. These refer to different components and functions of the operating system itself that could have something to do with this failure.
Reinstall the application where copy and paste does not work
Yes, in Windows we can copy and paste without problems and where these functions are giving us problems is within other applications, such as in Word, Excel or any other, then surely the problem is with the application itself.
We must review the configuration of this to make sure that nothing is blocking or disabling these functions. We can also try to reset the application settings to their default values and even reinstall the application again to make everything work normally again. We say this because some of the functions included in the problematic application may be producing an incompatibility with the feature that we use so much in windows.
In fact, on some occasions, if we find that this problem when using this function is focused on a specific application, it will not be necessary to eliminate it completely. We have already told you on many occasions that the update Both the operating system and the applications that we have installed is something more important than we might think at first. This means that if these features have stopped working in a specific program, many times it will be enough to install the latest version in order to eliminate this incompatibility existing. These types of modifications sometimes solve the latest errors found in certain software solutions.
Clear clipboard data
Perhaps the reason why these functions are not working for us is because some type of content has been blocked in the history. Therefore, a quick way to try to solve this problem is simply by clearing the clipboard history. To do this, we will simply open CMD and execute the following command there:
echo off | clip
With this, the history of the Windows clipboard will have been deleted and, in case there was something blocked there, it will have been deleted and we will be able to use the copy and paste functions again.
Use clipboard history
It may happen that this function does not work correctly, and we cannot paste a previously copied text, because its input has been overwritten. This is because the clipboard only supports, by default, a single element, deleting it when we copy another. To avoid this limitation it is necessary to activate a Windows function called clipboard history.
When we copy an element, it is added directly to this clipboard. But, when we copy another one, instead of deleting it from memory, it is moved to the bottom, but it is still available within this tool. To launch it, what we must do is use the keyboard shortcut «Windows + V«. In this way, instead of pasting the element, we will see the list of everything we have copied since we turned on the PC, and we can choose the element we want to paste with the mouse.
Restart the explorer.exe process
The copy and paste function in Windows depends on the explorer.exe process. If something goes wrong in this process (has been corrupted, blocked, etc) it may be one of the reasons why it is not working normally. To solve this we just have to restart the explorer.exe process and try to see if it works again.
In case this function still does not work, we can also try to log out or restart the entire computer to see if the error is recovered like this.
Close third-party programs
We have already told you that the use of the clipboard and therefore the copy and paste function in Windows has been very common for years and many versions of the system. We have become accustomed to using this tool on a regular basis and almost without realizing it. Precisely because of all this when it begins to give us some problems, it is then that we really realize its importance.
Hence we try to solve the error with the copy and paste function in the Microsoft system as soon as possible. Sometimes we install certain third-party applications that take even more advantage of this system tool. But what on the one hand are all advantages, can also present us with some important problems in its operation. What we want to tell you with all this is that in the event that the functionality as such stops behaving as expected, we should uninstall the third-party programs installed for these tasks.
On certain occasions, these external applications may present compatibility problems that negatively affect the genuine windows clipboard. Therefore, if we remove them from the PC and use the clipboard natively, the error may disappear immediately.
Fix the problem when copying and pasting in Windows
If the most common solutions have not given the expected result and we continue with the problem when copying and pasting files in Windows, we should not despair and continue trying these system tools that can help us solve the error.
error checking
One of the reasons why the copy and paste functions do not work is because the system is damaged. To try to solve it, we can use a tool integrated into Windows such as Error Checking.
To access it, just open File Explorer and select “This PC”. Next, with the right button we click on our hard drive, so that a contextual menu appears. Here we must select the Properties option. This will open up a…
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