Why can’t I copy a second time

N
Posted By
noone
Apr 20, 2008
Views
488
Replies
6
Status
Closed
PSE 6

My attempts to copy selections sometimes work and sometimes don’t, and it’s driving me nuts. Here is an example that doesn’t and I’m wondering if I’m doing something wrong.

Start with any photo. Use the Elyptical Marquee Tool, select the middle of the picture. Touch the Move Tool to enable the rectangular frame around your Elyptical selection.

Edit -> Copy.

File -> New -> Blank File. Edit -> Paste.

Ok, you have a new image with your pasted selection with the rectangular frame still around it. You can resize, distort, adjust brightness, etc., whatever on it. (Do not flatten)

However, Edit -> Copy is now grayed out and impossible to select. Why not?

Thanks.
Bruce.
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RG
Roy G
Apr 20, 2008
"Bruce." wrote in message
PSE 6

My attempts to copy selections sometimes work and sometimes don’t, and it’s driving me nuts. Here is an example that doesn’t and I’m wondering if I’m doing something wrong.

Start with any photo. Use the Elyptical Marquee Tool, select the middle of the picture. Touch the Move Tool to enable the rectangular frame around your Elyptical selection.

Edit -> Copy.

File -> New -> Blank File. Edit -> Paste.

Ok, you have a new image with your pasted selection with the rectangular frame still around it. You can resize, distort, adjust brightness, etc., whatever on it. (Do not flatten)

However, Edit -> Copy is now grayed out and impossible to select. Why not?

Thanks.
Bruce.
Because the copy of that selection is still on your "Clipboard" and ready for pasting somewhere.

Roy G
N
noone
Apr 20, 2008
"Roy G" wrote in message
Because the copy of that selection is still on your "Clipboard" and ready for pasting somewhere.

That’s not how the clipboard works. You can copy as many times as you want without regard to any previous contents. In this case, the clipboard has already been pasted, so there is no reason why I shouldn’t be able to do another copy.

Either I’m doing something wrong or this is a bug,

Bruce.
B
BILL
Apr 20, 2008
"Bruce." wrote in message
"Roy G" wrote in message
Because the copy of that selection is still on your "Clipboard" and ready for pasting somewhere.

That’s not how the clipboard works. You can copy as many times as you want without regard to any previous contents. In this case, the clipboard has already been pasted, so there is no reason why I shouldn’t be able to do another copy.

Either I’m doing something wrong or this is a bug,

Bruce.

You need to select all
Bill
N
noone
Apr 20, 2008
"BILL" wrote in message
That’s not how the clipboard works. You can copy as many times as you want without regard to any previous contents. In this case, the clipboard has already been pasted, so there is no reason why I shouldn’t be able to do another copy.

Either I’m doing something wrong or this is a bug,

You need to select all
Bill

Thanks Bill! That seems very counter intuitive to me, since I don’t want to select all, just the object I pasted. And when I do a Select All, it puts the selection rectangle around the entire picture. Yet when I select Copy, only the pasted item is copied, not the entire picture as was framed by the selection rectangle.

But sure enough, if I first do a Select -> All, then Copy, and paste in to a new picture, only the object is pasted, not the entire picture. Weird.

Thanks for the tip.

Bruce.
RG
Roy G
Apr 21, 2008
"Bruce." wrote in message
"Roy G" wrote in message
Because the copy of that selection is still on your "Clipboard" and ready for pasting somewhere.

That’s not how the clipboard works. You can copy as many times as you want without regard to any previous contents. In this case, the clipboard has already been pasted, so there is no reason why I shouldn’t be able to do another copy.

Either I’m doing something wrong or this is a bug,

Bruce.

If all you want to do is paste your orginal selection for a second time, then just go to wherever and "Paste" it.

There is no need to make a second "Copy", because it is already on your Clipboard, and that is why the "Copy" command is greyed out. (As I said)

I think you will find this is how the Clipboard works.

Your Copied selection will stay on it until you make a different selection and then the "Copy" command will become available.

I have no doubt there are other ways of doing the same thing, but why use more commands than needed.

Roy G
N
noone
Apr 21, 2008
"Roy G" wrote in message
If all you want to do is paste your orginal selection for a second time, then just go to wherever and "Paste" it.

There is no need to make a second "Copy", because it is already on your Clipboard, and that is why the "Copy" command is greyed out. (As I said)

That’s not what I’m seeing. After the first paste, take the selection and resize it. Then adjust the lighting. Change the hue and saturation until it looks nothing like what is on the clipboard. You can verify that these changes have not changed what is on the clipboard by doing another paste. Your pasted object is now nothing like what is still on the clipboard. Despite all those changes, the Copy menu pick is still disabled.

However, as Bill noted, if I first do a Select All, that enables copy and I can now copy the very changed object to the clipboard and paste it in a third document.

Bruce.

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