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Copy-paste problem with Firefox 30

  • 7 replies
  • 78 have this problem
  • 4 views
  • Last reply by sarahbeth

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I recently updated to Firefox 30 on a MacBook Pro, OS 10.8.5. Ever since I've been having trouble with copy-paste.

When I copy text, then use cmd-F (for example, to find a certain word as the location I want to paste the copied text into), the cmd-F search over-writes the copied text on the clipboard. That is, if I copy "the quick brown fox," then use cmd-F to search for "foobar," it is foobar that's on the clipboard, not "the quick brown fox."

Any help in fixing this would be appreciated.

I recently updated to Firefox 30 on a MacBook Pro, OS 10.8.5. Ever since I've been having trouble with copy-paste. When I copy text, then use cmd-F (for example, to find a certain word as the location I want to paste the copied text into), the cmd-F search over-writes the copied text on the clipboard. That is, if I copy "the quick brown fox," then use cmd-F to search for "foobar," it is foobar that's on the clipboard, not "the quick brown fox." Any help in fixing this would be appreciated.

All Replies (7)

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Does this always happen if you press Command+F?

Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.

  • Switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance
  • Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window
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Hi Cor-el, thanks. Yes, it's been happening all the time since I downloaded Firefox 30. I switched to the default theme, disabled all my add-ons, and unchecked "Use hardware acceleration when available," but it made no difference.

I'd like to try to avoid starting Firefox in safe mode, because the last time I did it I lost all my bookmarks.

Modified by sarahbeth

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Another Mac user (version 10.9.3) reported this problem as well: When I use Command-F to find text on a page in Ffx, the text I type into the "find" box gets put onto my clipboard, replacing what is there (unsolved).

Safe Mode and a Reset did not help in that thread, so you are off the hook for trying those.

Can you tell when the problem occurs in your style of usage of the bar:

  • immediately after typing one or more characters, while Firefox is searching for the first match
  • when you click one of the buttons (e.g., next arrow, previous arrow, or one of the others)
  • when you use one of the shortcut keys (e.g., F3 or command+g for next, Shift+F3 or Shift+command+g for previous)
  • some other time
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Hi Jscher, thanks for the reply. The problem was such a nuisance that I had to go back to Firefox 29.

It happened when I used command-F to search/find. Whatever I typed after command-F overwrote the contents of the clipboard.

Modified by sarahbeth

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Thanks. There is a bug on file, so hopefully it will get fixed in the next release.

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Just confirming that I noticed a variant of this problem. I'm running OX 10.6.8 on a MacBook Pro and just updated to Firefox 30.0, and if I copy and paste text anywhere (e.g., into a search bar, into the URL bar, into a comment that I'm posting to an online discussion) while I have the "find" toolbar open, that text is automatically copied into the "find" toolbar as well, regardless of whether there was already text there (in which case the previous text is overwritten) or was empty. The problem only started after the update to v. 30.0. I'll have to think about whether it's annoying enough to go back to the previous version of Firefox, but just wanted to let someone know.

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DaraS, I noticed this too. Anything I copied went into the "find" toolbar, and anything I searched for overwrote the clipboard. Firefox 30 didn't distinguish between copy and find.