What if the copy-paste command doesn’t work on a Mac?

For most Mac users, the copy-paste process – an integral part of daily work with

computer. Even if you haven’t encountered this, you can imagine how annoying it is when a function stops working or the clipboard freezes.

Do not worry, this problem can be easily and quickly solved.

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The tips below apply to all versions of macOS and Mac.OS X. You will need to force close the daemon of the clipboard so that it restarts. This should solve all problems, including the establishment of the copy-paste function. We will talk about two different methods - through System Monitoring and the command line.

System monitoring

  1. Close all programs on your Mac in which the copy-paste function does not work properly.
  2. Open the System Monitoring program, which is located in the Utilities. You can also press Command + Space and enter “System Monitoring” in the search bar.
  3. In the search bar of the program itself, enter "pboard".
  4. Click on the "pboard" process and then click on the (X) icon in the menu at the top. After that, select “Force Quit”.
  5. Close the System Monitoring program.

Now run some program in which the function did not work, and try using the copy-paste command. It should work properly.

If the function still does not work, trycopy something not with a keyboard shortcut, but through the menu. If this method works, then the problem is not in the clipboard, but in the keyboard. Perhaps some other program conflicts with standard keyboard shortcuts.

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You can also restart your Mac. Often this solves such problems. Sometimes the clipboard simply stops responding and requires a device reboot.

Terminal

  1. Open the Terminal program, which is also located in Utilities.
  2. Enter the following command:

killall pboard

  1. Press Enter.

The command will restart the pboard process, which is responsible for the clipboard on Mac OS. Again, if all else fails, restart your Mac.