Windows 10 - clipboard oddity trying to resolve

[DaveLembke]

On my Windows 10 Home 64-bit system I have noticed an oddity where if earlier in my computer use for the day I copy/pasted something off the web such as a URL TEXT to save along with some technotes as a reference to where I was in a document, and later I go to copy paste an image to drop onto a different document, it wants to dump the text from earlier to the document as if the picture wasnt selected for copy.

Whats even stranger is that its almost like there are 2 buffers for clipboard where one contains text and other contains the image I found out as for if I use the right-click paste after first doing the same for copy, I get text from earlier pasted. However if I use the hotkey of CTRL + V it pastes the image that I want to paste correctly to the document vs the text that I dont want.

Are there two different buffers between image and text capture where right-click paste doesnt want to function to paste images yet CTRL + V will, or is this some weird feature of Windows 10.

I thought initially it might be something weird with images from google images ( copy protections ), so I opened up mspaint and selected a picture to open of my own that doesnt have any protections and then cropped an area to copy and then went to do it via right-click paste and still text from earlier pastes to document. If I CTRL + V however the image portion that I copied then pastes.

Maybe I need to get back into the groove of using the CTRL + X,C,V but I'm quicker at the right click where one hand is needed vs two hands to pull off the CTRL + V function. I have only resorted to the hot key combination when right-click paste doesnt work as wanted such as now. But usually its other reasons why only the hot key works vs right-click. But in this situation its something to do with Windows 10 I'm thinking because I dont have any added snipping tools added etc... maybe I need to add a tool to get around this weird issue. 

[nil]

As far as I know, it's the user software, not the operating system, that places image data in the clipboard. Is it possible that the program you're in when you press CTRL+C isn't properly copying images to the clipboard? Or does it work sometimes in that program, and other times doesn't?

Other users have had success using nircmd to copy an image file's data to the clipboard from the command line:

https://superuser.com/questions/372602/how-to-copy-picture-from-a-file-to-clipboard

But I'm not sure if that solution will work for you, if the image data is not already saved in a file.

[rjbinney]

I have had the same issue, rather sporadically... I always presumed that it was because there was something about how that particular image was embedded in that particular environment that made it un-clickable (whether you were right-clicking or left-clicking/Ctrl+C'ing), perhaps because of (c) issues or just coding. I know that doesn't help, but I never considered dual buffers...

On an almost completely unrelated note, my Android phone, if you paste an image in a text, automatically fires off the text to the recipient (withOUT waiting for me to hit Send) as soon as the image is pasted. So, in the opposite of the OP, if I *think* I'm pasting text into an SMS but have an image in my buffer, it will paste the picture - and then there is nothing I can do to stop it from getting sent! Thank goodness I'm not a representative from New York or a former Green Bay quarterback!

[BC_Programmer]

You reference "A Document" and "The document" repeatedly but never mention the software.

The Clipboard can contain multiple different pieces of data. It's intended to allow a program to add different formats for data so that whatever program you paste can use the richest version. For example copying text might include a richer version that has text formatting, as well as plain text. Programs are supposed to clear the clipboard before adding data but it's possible a program doesn't do that- if you are copying images it's not going to dump the various text formats, and only replace/change any image formats, and then when you paste the program will choose whatever format it finds first.

[DaveLembke]

As far as documents go, I have seen this happen with OpenOffice Writer, as well as when copy pasting stuff within a browser environment to a form. It would be easy to pin it to just one culprit if it was just one program or application that has this issue.

One of the most critical of mishaps was when I had a long password stored from earlier when copy pasting it from a notepad text document that holds passwords for websites in which I didnt want to type the complex alphanumeric with special character password and I was going to share with a friend on facebook an easter egg within a video game we were playing that I had a screenshot of, but didnt want to send the whole screenshot but just the item of interest as I selected a smaller section of an image that I opened in mspaint, selected to copy this via the right-click copy. Then went to facebook to right-click and paste and it wanted to drop my long password from being used earlier.  I tried this over again and same results 3 times, I then decided to use CTRL + V and it sent the image instead of the password to facebook messenger window.

I had sort of ignored it until most recent when a password almost went broadcasted out onto facebook because the buffer is doing this oddity.

Maybe I just need to avoid the right-click of copy/paste and force myself to using the hot key combinations for CTRL + C and CTRL + V ... but I dont quite get why there is a difference between using your mouse to copy/paste or using keystrokes to copy/paste. I thought its the same function, but this weirdness is pointed out that there are differences in whats called from a buffer of stacked items where you can have text and an image there at the same time and if you right-click and paste your getting old text from earlier and if you use CTRL +V your able to get the latest image to paste.

Windows 10 is the only system that does this. I dont have any special clipboard or screen capture programs installed, its a pretty bare bone install of 10 with just Steam added to it so that I can play my games on it. All other computers that I own that are Windows 7 or another OS other than 10 dont have where the buffer acts like 2 separate buffers. I've never seen a recall ability in a buffer before other than at command prompt you have use arrow keys to bring back a list of what was entered earlier but that has nothing to do with the buffer for copy/pasting. The minute print screen is used or copy is used on all other systems I have it wipes out that buffer space and places the newly captured information either a screenshot or text and when using either hot keys or right-click for copy/paste your getting the newest information pasted and not something from earlier.

I am going to mess around with this more tonight when I get out of work to see if I can discover anything else about this that points out why its acting this way.

Lastly the browser in use is Edge.. just in case that rings a bell for some feature in edge that I am not aware of as the interaction of the copy pasting is mainly from the web to local document or from local document to the web, BUT I have also seen this happen when working between two local environments where an area of an image was selected as cropped and right-click copy and then open the Open Office Writer document and right-click paste and its dumping text information from earlier instead of the latest image selection copied. However if I avoid the right-click copy/paste or right-click to copy but complete the pasting process using CTRL + V it will paste the content correctly that I want.

So I know how to get what I want pasted by using CTRL + V instead of Right-Click Paste, but its annoying that the mouse controlled Copy/Paste and Hot Key function to do the same thing should be doing the same thing I would think and it isnt.