Copy and Paste not working

Question

bennyhoward Author

Level 1

4 points

Copy and Paste not working

I've noticed for a while that the copy-and-paste function is broken.

When I press CTRL+C and CTRL+V, it doesn't work.

I don't know why, it's been broken for me since Sonoma (on and off), I'm on Tahoe (same problem, but consistent).

I'm a bit frustrated that this basic functionality is not working.

...also in my initial post I said "Copy and Paste not working" and in the post form, it cut off "...Paste not working" when trying to post title. Good thing I had a review before posting.

Why is so much stuff broken!?

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 26.1

Posted on Nov 11, 2025 7:23 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

D.I. Johnson

Level 7

31,595 points

Nov 11, 2025 7:39 PM in response to bennyhoward

The keystrokes for Copy and Paste are Command+C (⌘C) and Command+V (⌘V) respectively.

Not CTRL.

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Answer 2

Old Toad

Level 10

215,076 points

Nov 12, 2025 11:51 AM in response to bennyhoward

So it's not all the time. Have you installed and run any "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus or VPN apps on your Mac?

You may have lost focus to the application that you were in. I get that sometimes. To get focus back click on the Finder icon in the Dock, close any Finder window that opens, click on your application and try again.

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