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Clipboard merging in Excel - merging when it shouldn't


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macOS Monterey 12.0.1 (although this happened on Big Sur too)

Alfred 4.6

 

I can reproduce this easily.

 

Using excel as an example - I highlight some rows, CMD + C to copy, then immediately CMD + W to close the window. The action of doing this merges to the clipboard. For this not to happen, I need to CMD + C to copy, wait a second, then CMD + W to close the window.

 

Basically the action of quickly using CMD + something after CMD + C seems to trigger the merge functionality.

Edited by alfredpanda
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@alfredpanda The merge happens in Alfred when two consecutive identical entries are see within the macOS Pasteboard, and this happens when using ⌘C twice (e.g. the macOS clipboard counter is at 1001 with "bob", then at 1002 with "bob").

 

Under normal circumstances on a Mac, you wouldn't be seeing a second clipboard entry when using ⌘C followed by ⌘(something else).

 

Do you have any app installed which manipulates the clipboard or keyboard in any way which could be causing this duplicate clipboard entry?

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2 hours ago, Andrew said:

@alfredpanda The merge happens in Alfred when two consecutive identical entries are see within the macOS Pasteboard, and this happens when using ⌘C twice (e.g. the macOS clipboard counter is at 1001 with "bob", then at 1002 with "bob").

 

Under normal circumstances on a Mac, you wouldn't be seeing a second clipboard entry when using ⌘C followed by ⌘(something else).

 

Do you have any app installed which manipulates the clipboard or keyboard in any way which could be causing this duplicate clipboard entry?

Hey Andrew.

 

There aren't any other apps installed that should be touching the clipboard or keyboard functionality in any way. 

 

I've closed the only other apps I use consistently that use keyboard shortcuts (Cleanshot, Magnet, BetterTouchTool) and it still happens.

 

It might be easier to show you in a video or screenshare the actions I take and what happens?

Edited by alfredpanda
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@alfredpanda I understand what you're explaining so I'm not sure a video would add anything.

 

Could you please create a new user account, switch to that user, activate Alfred there and see if you're seeing the same issue? This will rule out anything installed / interfering on your main profile.

 

Also, does this happen in all apps, or just e.g. Microsoft Excel?

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7 hours ago, Andrew said:

@alfredpanda I understand what you're explaining so I'm not sure a video would add anything.

 

Could you please create a new user account, switch to that user, activate Alfred there and see if you're seeing the same issue? This will rule out anything installed / interfering on your main profile.

 

Also, does this happen in all apps, or just e.g. Microsoft Excel?

I created a new Admin user from scratch and installed Alfred and had exactly the same issue.

 

Strangely enough it does only seem to be Microsoft Excel. And of course the CMD + W shortcut will only close right away if it's a saved file without changes.

 

(The use-case here is having to manually copy and paste some data out of excel files (without editing the contents) - hence how I've stumbled across this issue many times.)

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1 hour ago, alfredpanda said:

Strangely enough it does only seem to be Microsoft Excel.


That makes it less strange, because we now know Excel is the culprit. Have you tried your steps without ⌘C? That is to say, select the rows and press ⌘W then check the clipboard.

 

This is a wild guess, but  I remember someone getting unintended clipboard merges in iTerm because it has a feature where just selecting the text copies it. So by selecting then pressing ⌘C, a merge would trigger. Perhaps Excel is trying to be helpful and copy what’s selected when you exit.

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  • Andrew changed the title to Clipboard merging in Excel - merging when it shouldn't
On 11/9/2021 at 11:15 AM, vitor said:


That makes it less strange, because we now know Excel is the culprit. Have you tried your steps without ⌘C? That is to say, select the rows and press ⌘W then check the clipboard.

 

This is a wild guess, but  I remember someone getting unintended clipboard merges in iTerm because it has a feature where just selecting the text copies it. So by selecting then pressing ⌘C, a merge would trigger. Perhaps Excel is trying to be helpful and copy what’s selected when you exit.

 

I tried this but it didn't do anything. It only merge when pressing CMD + W to close.

 

Here's a video recording where you can see what I do and hear the merge sound:

https://cln.sh/lpasOC9EASzt3Jv0Vako

 

and here are my settings:

image.thumb.png.e8f3296fc485e396066896a7c98e0c50.png

Edited by alfredpanda
Added settings
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4 hours ago, alfredpanda said:

I tried this but it didn't do anything. It only merge when pressing CMD + W to close.

 

The suggestion wasn’t to make it merge, but to make it copy only. The point was to select the rows, press ⌘W, then see if the row contents show in the clipboard.

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12 hours ago, vitor said:

 

The suggestion wasn’t to make it merge, but to make it copy only. The point was to select the rows, press ⌘W, then see if the row contents show in the clipboard.

Apologies, I didn't write that post properly.

 

Selecting a row and pressing ⌘W does not add the contents to the clipboard.

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