Troubleshoot common issues

Pasted text still has its colors

• Check Clean pasted formatting is on in the toolbar panel.
• Cleanup works in rich-text editors on web pages. Chrome's own pages (chrome://) and the Chrome Web Store are off limits to extensions, and desktop apps aren't web pages.
• Some editors run their own paste handling and rebuild what's pasted. If one keeps the colors, paste as plain text with Ctrl+Shift+V.

Nothing shows after I copy

• Check Show what you copied is on in the toolbar panel.
• With the copies window on, the window may be open behind the browser; Chrome only raises a window by taking the focus away from your page. Keep it beside the browser, or reopen it from the window button in the toolbar panel.
• Some "Copy" buttons on web pages write to the clipboard without a copy event, so the extension never sees them. Ctrl+V still pastes what they copied.

Alt+number or Alt+V does nothing

• Click into a text box or editor first; the hotkeys paste where the cursor is.
• Alt+V needs Point out blank space at the start or end on, in Settings → Copying.
• A page or another extension may use the same keys. Try the right-click menu instead: Paste a recent copy.

A screen grab was saved as a file

When a page can't reach the clipboard (an http:// page, or a window that lost focus), the grab is saved as a file so it isn't lost. On https:// pages it goes to the clipboard as usual.

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Related guides

Next, read Paste without the colors, Paste with hotkeys or Privacy & permissions.