# Known Issues

This document lists known commonly occurring issues and possible solutions.

## On Windows, tray icon is hidden/repositioned after restart

With current official builds of CopyQ, the tray icon position and hide/show status are not restored after the application is restarted or after logging in.

Workaround is to use CopyQ binaries build with older Qt framework version (Qt 5.9); these are provided in latest comments in the issue link below.

See also

Issue #1258

## On Windows, CopyQ does not print anything on console

On Windows, you may not see any output when executing CopyQ in a console/terminal application (PowerShell or cmd).

Workarounds:

- Use different console application: Git Bash, Cygwin or similar.

- Use Action dialog in CopyQ (`F5` shortcut) and set “Store standard output” to “text/plain” to save the output as new item in current tab.

- Append `| Write-Output` to commands in PowerShell:

      & 'C:\Program Files\CopyQ\copyq.exe' help | Write-Output

See also

Issue #349

## On macOS, CopyQ won’t paste after installation/update

CopyQ is not signed app, you need to grant Accessibility again when it’s installed or updated.

To fix this, try following steps:

1. Go to System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> Privacy -> Accessibility (or just search for “Allow apps to use Accessibility”).

2. Click the unlock button.

3. Select CopyQ from the list and remove it (with the “-” button).

See also

- Issue #1030

- Issue #1245

## On GNOME, new clipboard is not stored

The app requires the CopyQ Clipboard Monitor GNOME Shell extension to be enabled so it can watch clipboard changes and store them. The extension is shipped with CopyQ 14.0.0 and later.

Note

The GNOME extension is only available when CopyQ is installed on the system (e.g. from a package manager). It will not work when running CopyQ as a Flatpak or AppImage because the extension cannot be registered with the GNOME Shell from a sandboxed environment.

See also

On Linux, some features do not work under Wayland

## On Linux, some features do not work under Wayland

When running CopyQ under a Wayland compositor, some features may not work depending on the desktop environment and the protocols it supports.

Global shortcuts work natively if the desktop environment provides Portal support (`xdg-desktop-portal`).

Clipboard monitoring works natively if the compositor supports the required Wayland protocol. This works on KDE Plasma, Sway, Hyprland and other wlroots-based compositors. On GNOME, this protocol is not supported, but CopyQ ships a GNOME Shell extension that provides clipboard monitoring instead (see On GNOME, new clipboard is not stored). If clipboard monitoring does not work with either method, see Workaround: running under XWayland below.

Querying state of keyboard modifiers (for example pressed Shift, Ctrl etc. which can be useful for some custom commands) and mouse position (useful for positioning menus) does not work on Wayland.

See the subsections below for other fixes.

### Workaround: Wayland Support command

This can fix (depending on the desktop environment and installed tools):

- pasting from CopyQ and issuing copy commands to other apps

- screenshot functionality

- retrieving and matching window titles

Install the Wayland Support command to fix the features. It also requires some external tools to be installed on the system.

### Workaround: running under XWayland

This can fix:

- clipboard monitoring

- setting and restoring window position (only window size is supported by most Wayland compositors natively)

Setting `QT_QPA_PLATFORM=xcb` environment variable forces CopyQ to run under XWayland mode. Unfortunately, it can cause clipboard monitoring to fail when the main window is closed, X11 connection errors, and other issues depending on the XWayland implementation.

To start CopyQ under XWayland, use:

    env QT_QPA_PLATFORM=xcb copyq

If CopyQ autostarts, you can change the `Exec=...` line in `~/.config/autostart/copyq.desktop`:

    Exec=env QT_QPA_PLATFORM=xcb copyq

For the Flatpak application, see this workaround.

Note

Mouse selection will still work only if the source application itself supports it.

See also

Issue #27

Issue #3587 — `QT_QPA_PLATFORM=xcb` can break clipboard monitoring

## On GNOME, busy cursor after selecting tray menu item

When using the AppIndicator/KStatusNotifierItem GNOME Shell extension, selecting an item from the CopyQ tray menu may cause a busy cursor for about 15 seconds. This is a bug in the extension — it triggers startup notification unconditionally without checking the application’s `StartupNotify` desktop entry key.

See also

- Issue #3586

- AppIndicator extension issue #443

## Scripting command “copy()” fails

The command `copy()` sends the Ctrl+C shortcut to the current window. This can fail depending on the active application. If CopyQ won’t detect a clipboard change, it throws an exception. The execution then fails with the message `Failed to copy to clipboard!`.

An alternative under Windows is to use a Powershell script to override the `copy` operation (see How to load shared commands and share them?):

    [Command]
    Command="
        copy = function() {
            execute('powershell', '-Command', `
                Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Windows.Forms;
                Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 300;
                [System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait(\"^c\");
                Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 300;
            `);
        }"
    IsScript=true
    Name=Override copy()

The delays are added to make sure no focus issues occur and the text is copied to the clipboard.

## CopyQ steals keyboard focus when showing window or menu

When CopyQ shows its main window or tray menu (via global shortcut, tray icon click, or script), it transfers keyboard focus from the previously active window. This can cause side effects in the target application such as:

- File renames aborting (e.g. pressing F2 in file managers)

- Combo boxes selecting all their content

- Short-lived widgets dismissing (Start menu, PowerToys, extension dialogs)

- Application menus closing

- Auto-hide windows hiding (e.g. ConEmu Quake mode)

See also

- Issue #3540

### Workaround

Use global shortcuts to cycle through clipboard history and paste without showing the CopyQ window.

The Cycle Items - Quick command previews items in notifications and automatically pastes the selected item when the shortcut modifier(s) are released―without ever opening the main window.

A simpler alternative is to assign a global shortcut to `next()` or `previous()`. These functions cycle through clipboard history and update the system clipboard silently. For example, the following command updates to the next item:

    next()

The item can then be pasted with the normal system paste shortcut (`Ctrl+V` or `Cmd+V`).