Monday, 14th January 2008Photoshop Clipboard Problem

A solution to the infamous Photoshop Clipboard Problem (CS3, CS2 and CS clipboard stops responding)

If your finding that Photoshop sometimes just ignores your requests to paste the contents of the clipboard, worry no more - the solution is simple and it is below. 

First however, a little background in to what is causing the problem.

Photoshop actually has its own clipboard - completely separate from the Windows clipboard and occasionally Photoshop forgets to check the status of the Windows clipboard - presumably it must do some sort of comparison in with a dateTime stamp to see which item was copied most recently.

The solution

There is a registry setting called AlwaysImportClipboard, when enabled, forces Photoshop to always check the status of the Windows clipboard when doing a paste.

The easiest way to make this entry - rather than fiddling around with RegEdit - is to create a registry file which, when double clicked, will make the entry for you.

To make a registry file, simple copy and paste the appropriate text below (each bit of text is for a different version) in to Notepad,  save the file as "FixMyClipboard.reg" and then double click it.

You will be asked "Are you sure you want to add the information ... in to the registry?", say yes and restart Photoshop - hey presto you're all set.

Protecting my Butt: This information is provided without warranty, guarantee or obligation.  Making changes to the registry is can cause system problems leading to data loss.

The versions

Fix for Photoshop CS3:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Photoshop\10.0]
“AlwaysImportClipboard”=dword:00000001

Fix for Photoshop CS2

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Photoshop\9.0]
“AlwaysImportClipboard”=dword:00000001

Fix for Photoshop CS

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Photoshop\8.0] “AlwaysImportClipboard”=dword:00000001