Can't Copy and Paste

[PapaDoink]

Well since I can't drag and drop, I also found out that I can't copy and paste! Any help please?

[Apple Ink]

Please try to explain what's happening....

Where are you? (What Apple hardware are you using?)
What are you trying to drag/drop?
What are you trying to copy paste?
What OS?
Why cant you drag and drop?
And please post the thread in a more descriptive place such as Mac OS X or iPhone.

If you're in iPhone.... You can neither drag/drop (only icons on your home screen for rearranging.... press the home button for 3 seconds) nor cut/copy/paste

If you're in Mac OS X, try command+c to copy, command+v to paste and command+x to cut!

[PapaDoink]

Originally Posted by Apple Ink

Please try to explain what's happening....

Where are you? (What Apple hardware are you using?)
What are you trying to drag/drop?
What are you trying to copy paste?
What OS?
Why cant you drag and drop?
And please post the thread in a more descriptive place such as Mac OS X or iPhone.

If you're in iPhone.... You can neither drag/drop (only icons on your home screen for rearranging.... press the home button for 3 seconds) nor cut/copy/paste

If you're in Mac OS X, try command+c to copy, command+v to paste and command+x to cut!

MacBook
I try to drag and drop anything and it wont work
When I try and copy and paste anything it doesn't paste.
Mac OS X 10.5.4

[Apple Ink]

OK... this is weird!

First lets see... Have you tried restarting your macbook? This solves most of the problems!

If this doesnt work, Open Disk Utility and repair permissions and verify disk!

Meanwhile I'll google this and find out more!

[PapaDoink]

Originally Posted by Apple Ink

OK... this is weird!

First lets see... Have you tried restarting your macbook? This solves most of the problems!

If this doesnt work, Open Disk Utility and repair permissions and verify disk!

Meanwhile I'll google this and find out more!

Thanks, I've done all of those when I called Apple that's wat they told me to do. Nothing worked.

[richard.mac]

this sounds like a very rare issue with a very generalised explanation. please explain exactly what you have tried to "drag & drop" and "copy & paste".

to copy a file either select it in the Finder and press "command+C", select "Copy" from the Edit menu and then paste the file. or you drag and drop while holding the "option" button which both copies and pastes the file. there is no "Cut" in Mac OS X except for when you cut text, its then "command+X".

drag & drop is pretty self explanatory. just drag a file from folder to folder. you even can hold a file over a folder to use spring loaded folders. you can also use spring loaded folders for folders in Finder's sidebar or Stacks in the Dock.

[PapaDoink]

Originally Posted by richthomas

this sounds like a very rare issue with a very generalised explanation. please explain exactly what you have tried to "drag & drop" and "copy & paste".

to copy a file either select it in the Finder and press "command+C", select "Copy" from the Edit menu and then paste the file. or you drag and drop while holding the "option" button which both copies and pastes the file. there is no "Cut" in Mac OS X except for when you cut text, its then "command+X".

drag & drop is pretty self explanatory. just drag a file from folder to folder. you even can hold a file over a folder to use spring loaded folders. you can also use spring loaded folders for folders in Finder's sidebar or Stacks in the Dock.

I have tried to drag and drop files into different folders, pictures onto my desktop, and icons. EVERYTHING basically. And I have tried copy and pasting text. I have also tried copy and pasting files into other folders also.

[Apple Ink]

This is eerie.....

Did you try repairing disk from Mac OS X install disk?

[Apple Ink]

This is eerie.....

Did you try repairing disk from Mac OS X install disk?

If this doesnt work.... Backup (Ahem... TimeMachine seems to be the only option) and reinstall Mac OS X

[PapaDoink]

Yes I repaired the disk. If I backup then will I lose everything?

[Apple Ink]

Originally Posted by PapaDoink

Yes I repaired the disk. If I backup then will I lose everything?

Er.... You backup so you dont lose anything

If you mean.... 'Why backup ?', I highly recommend you perform 'Erase and Install', which means you will lose everything!

[jeffharris]

EXACT same thing has happened to me today - even tried to re-upgrade 10.5.4, did nothing.

Can't copy, past. Cannot drag icons or move icons in the dock, or in finder, and, spotlight does not come up on the top right by default.

Going to Genius Bar otmorrow - but, after a lot of internet searching, it seems like there's no fix, so, I believe I will have to reinstall Leopard.

[jarter]

I have the same problem.

I had problems booting yesterday, it kept looping during the boot cycle so I did a Hard Disk Repair and a Permissions Repair through the Disk Utility. After that, I was able to resolve my boot looping issue, but now I cannot copy/paste or drag/drop any files on my mac. I am just trying to copy some pictures from one folder to another.

I tried to run the Permissions Repair again, but that did not help.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

[dasboot]

This issue seems to be becoming quite an issue for many people - I am still trying to solve this after 2 days searchng for an answer. Most posts regarding this issue appear to have people running 10.5.4. It also appears to be happening under a variety of circumstances (randomly). I was under the impression it was some sort of permissions issue - but now I am not so sure.

If anyone has a clue - Please help out!

BTW: all 5 of my user accounts are affected.

[hopespaul]

same issue here - no dragging, copy/pasting, takes forever to start up computer. i previously had an invalid node structure and that caused me to reinstall macOS. ever since that the hard drive has been working slower than usual. also, everytime i open up finder it freezes for 5 seconds and then goes back to normal (seems like the hard drive is having a hard time locating items)

going to make a genius bar appointment and update.

[Guitarman63mm]

/bump

This is an ongoing issue, without a tangible fix. I personally can't copy/paste or anything, as everyone else said. However, I disabled spotlight about a week ago, which is when time machine went insane and deleted all my backups on my external hard drive. I'm unable to search as well.

So, essentially, my ibook cannot search, back up, copy/paste, or any of that good stuff. I've run disk utility and permissions, verified everything, everything "appears to be ok", but it most certainly is not.

Also, about a week ago, my mac started turning off randomly and would die out for a while, and I'd take out the power supply and battery and then plug it back in again, and it reset me to 1969, in date/time O_o

I'm personally going to erase my disk completely and do an install.
Being a musician, however, this is a killer, as I'm deleting much of my own music, as well as entire catalogues of others of whom I listen to

But working with a faulty computer is much more difficult.

As another added bonus, my midi devices stopped working! I can't even use garageband or logic at all as a result.


Apple, find a fix.

[PapaDoink]

Originally Posted by Guitarman63mm

/bump

This is an ongoing issue, without a tangible fix. I personally can't copy/paste or anything, as everyone else said. However, I disabled spotlight about a week ago, which is when time machine went insane and deleted all my backups on my external hard drive. I'm unable to search as well.

So, essentially, my ibook cannot search, back up, copy/paste, or any of that good stuff. I've run disk utility and permissions, verified everything, everything "appears to be ok", but it most certainly is not.

Also, about a week ago, my mac started turning off randomly and would die out for a while, and I'd take out the power supply and battery and then plug it back in again, and it reset me to 1969, in date/time O_o

I'm personally going to erase my disk completely and do an install.
Being a musician, however, this is a killer, as I'm deleting much of my own music, as well as entire catalogues of others of whom I listen to

But working with a faulty computer is much more difficult.

As another added bonus, my midi devices stopped working! I can't even use garageband or logic at all as a result.


Apple, find a fix.

Wow dude that is really messed up. I don't even know how to use Time Machine personally so I don't have to worry about any of that but I hope you can find a fix. All I had to do was reinstall mac osx 10.4.5 or w.e it was. Best of luck to you.

[Guitarman63mm]

Originally Posted by PapaDoink

Wow dude that is really messed up. I don't even know how to use Time Machine personally so I don't have to worry about any of that but I hope you can find a fix. All I had to do was reinstall mac osx 10.4.5 or w.e it was. Best of luck to you.

In the end, I just dealt with the fact that I'd be losing hundreds of dollars in music and applications, and so I just completely erased my disc and reinstalled
Leopard. All my problems went away, but my tweaking had sped it up considerably, and right now it's going rather...well, slow. I suppose that's what I get for running a computer from early 2005 on new software?

[samgfall]

I was was seeing a similar issue on a MacBook Air running 10.5.5. I could not drag and drop icons in the Finder, and also could not copy and paste from any applications. The pbcopy command was not copying anything to the clipboard, so the pbpaste would not return anything. Fixing perms and rebooting was not helping at all.

I ended up fixing this by noticing that the /private/tmp directory did not exist. I created it, assigned the correct permissions, rebooted the computer, and my drag and drop and clipboard functionality came back. I used the following commands to create and assign permissions to the tmp directory.

sudo mkdir /private/tmp
sudo chmod 1777 /private/tmp

I am not sure if this is exactly the same problem that others are having. I would first check to see if the /private/tmp directory exists and that the permissions are drwxrwxrwt. I am also not sure the implications or other negative side effects of this process. I would only try this as a last resort. It may save a reinstall of the OS.

[timothyandrew]

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=615731

[Laticevschi T]

well, I have the same problem on Mac Book Air 1st Gen. I run Mac OS X 10.5.7. Processor 1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and Memory 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM. I started using time machine but after a few weeks everything messed up. dirst of all I couldn't use bluetooth file exchange. it simply force quit in the midle of the transfer. I went to gen bar but after 2 days, spotlight disapeard. then 2 days later I couldnt copy paste and couldnt drag files in finder etc. I was only fortunate enough to find out how to bring potlight back, it's still something! well you go to Macintosh HD/System/Library/CoreServices/Spotlight
You duble click spotlight and it should come back. thats all I managed to solve... please contact me (tlaticevschi@gmail.com) if you find the solution to the other problems.
I think it's related to time machine.

[drm48]

Originally Posted by samgfall

I was was seeing a similar issue on a MacBook Air running 10.5.5. I could not drag and drop icons in the Finder, and also could not copy and paste from any applications. The pbcopy command was not copying anything to the clipboard, so the pbpaste would not return anything. Fixing perms and rebooting was not helping at all.

I ended up fixing this by noticing that the /private/tmp directory did not exist. I created it, assigned the correct permissions, rebooted the computer, and my drag and drop and clipboard functionality came back. I used the following commands to create and assign permissions to the tmp directory.

sudo mkdir /private/tmp
sudo chmod 1777 /private/tmp

I am not sure if this is exactly the same problem that others are having. I would first check to see if the /private/tmp directory exists and that the permissions are drwxrwxrwt. I am also not sure the implications or other negative side effects of this process. I would only try this as a last resort. It may save a reinstall of the OS.

Where do I put/make this replacement folder?

[angelwatt]

Originally Posted by drm48

Where do I put/make this replacement folder?

The commands given show where. It's a location that is normally hidden though from viewing via Finder.

[drm48]

Originally Posted by angelwatt

The commands given show where. It's a location that is normally hidden though from viewing via Finder.

I am still having trouble is there anyway I could get your Ichat screen name and possibly get more assistance? Your help would be much appreciated because I really have to resolve this issue before school start!

-Thanks

[angelwatt]

Originally Posted by drm48

I am still having trouble is there anyway I could get your Ichat screen name and possibly get more assistance? Your help would be much appreciated because I really have to resolve this issue before school start!

Supply your question here where others can help. You haven't given any information about your problem yet.