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General discussion

copy and paste not working in office

Aug 18, 2005 6:59AM PDT

well, this one is semi-urgent. a pile of paperwork is building up right now as i type this. i was wondering if anyone has seen this before or knows how to fix it.

i manage an inventory system using Microsoft Access 2000. when we bring things into production, we cut the record out of Access and into an Excel 2000 spreadsheet. a lot of the time, lately, it doesn't work.

i right click the record(s) in Access and select "Cut". the records won't disappear. i right click again, in either access or excel, and "copy" "paste" and "cut" are all greyed out. however, copy and paste works in explorer, notepad, etc. i haven't tested word.

i'm running Windows 2000 professional, and regularly have both Access 2000 and Excel 2000 open. sometimes iTunes 4.8 and Internet Explorer (unknown verson) are also open.

please help asap, if you can

Discussion is locked

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Get a spyware and virus scan done.
Aug 18, 2005 7:04AM PDT

Some common KEYBOARD LOGGERS (virus, trojan, spyware) often begin to show up when copy and paste fails.

Bob

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tried a scan...maybe it's on the shared drive?
Aug 18, 2005 7:25AM PDT

I tried Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta1, updated it, and tried again. it found one spyware app, deleted it, and office still won't let me cut, copy or paste.

also, i tried copy and paste on another computer, and encountered the same problem.

we do have a shared drive at our office (G: drive), however, i can't figure out how to scan that drive. i also have no idea what kind of drive it is...i'd imagine RAID, but i've never seen the physical drive.

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Lookup and try the HOUSECALL virus scan.
Aug 18, 2005 8:34AM PDT

Before we start fixing the machine, let's make sure it's not the common issue.

Bob

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gave it a try
Aug 18, 2005 11:47PM PDT

well, i gave it a try this morning. it didn't find anything, and copy & paste is still down.

it has also spread beyond office. before, i could copy and paste anywhere but office, now i can't do it anywhere.

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The 3 next things.
Aug 19, 2005 12:38AM PDT

1. Email me your HIJACKTHIS log and note this discussion.

2. If Windows XP, run SFC /SCANNOW and have your XP CD ready.

3. Run Windows Update and accept the critical updates. If you can't do this, please tell why.

I'm sure it's in there somewhere, we just need a clue.

Bob

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Pinpoint the problem.
Aug 19, 2005 5:38AM PDT

"Copy and paste not working in Office" is way too broad.

- Can you paste something from Notepad into Excel? Then paste is working in Excel.
- Can you copy something from Excel to Notepad? Then copy is working in Excel.
- Can you copy and paste from Word to another place in the same document? Then copy and paste is surely working in office, I would say.

All you tell: cut from Access doesn't work. You don't even tell if you copy/cut from a table, from a query, from a form in form view, or from a form in datasheet view (don't know if that's the correct English term, hope you understand).
- Does it work from other tables/queries/...?
- Does copy work (in stead of delete)?
- Can you delete from the table in using the button at the left side of the row?
- Query or form read-only, database opened read-only?

Just questions to get a better view of the problem.
I don't imply at all, however, that Bob is on the wrong track. Just too little information to point to any track at all.

Kees

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About tracks.
Aug 19, 2005 6:45AM PDT

While I can write that everytime I've encountered this it's either a PRIVACY FILTER that someone installed or a KEYBOARD LOGGER, I'm 1/2 sure it's not the keyboard logger.

A HIJACKTHIS log usually uncovers the privacy software. It's quite amazing what such does and what it can break.

And provides some track to go down.

Bob

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My company
Aug 21, 2005 11:34PM PDT

unfortunately, i work for a large, paranoid company based out of wisconsin.

i work in an offshoot packaging plant in philadelphia. our major account is hershey, and, basically, we bend over backwards at their will. because of hershey's paranoia about new product pre-exposure, and menasha's paranoia about system breech, it's against policy to send any file from my computer to any non-company computer.

I have a 1/2" stack of paperwork that was just dropped on me, and i have to call IT to be walked through a system i don't know (they refuse to help with office), so i'll go into the problem later today.

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Then not a file.
Aug 21, 2005 11:45PM PDT

But first, this is much like a doctor not having access to test results due to privacy concerns.

-> Hey, you have your IT staff. Let them fix it or die.

I know that back when I was dealing with IT staffers, I'd cut their budget at every opportunity due to their (lack of) performance.

You could have run HIJACKTHIS and pasted the result here or in my contact box.

Since you can't supply the diagnostic test results...

Bob

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I have the same problem
Jun 30, 2010 9:18PM PDT

Any clues?