1FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions 2================================ 3 4.. _faq-show-app: 5 6How to open CopyQ window or tray menu using shortcut? 7----------------------------------------------------- 8 9Add new command to open the CopyQ window or menu with a global shortcut: 10 111. Open "Command" dialog (``F6`` shortcut). 122. Click "Add" button in the dialog. 133. Select "Show/hide main window" or "Show the tray menu" from the list 14 and click "OK" button. 154. Click the button next to "Global Shortcut" label and set the 16 shortcut. 175. Click "OK" button to save the changes. 18 19For more information about commands see :ref:`writing-commands`. 20 21.. _faq-paste-from-window: 22 23How to paste double-clicked item from CopyQ window? 24--------------------------------------------------- 25 261. Open "Preferences" (``Ctrl+P`` shortcut). 272. Go to "History" tab. 283. Enable "Paste to current window" option. 29 30Next time you open the CopyQ main window and activate an item, 31it should be pasted. 32 33.. _faq-paste-text: 34 35How to paste as plain text? 36--------------------------- 37 38To **paste clipboard as plain text**: 39 401. Open "Command" dialog (``F6`` shortcut). 412. Click "Add" button in the dialog. 423. Select "Paste clipboard as plain text" from the list and click "OK" button. 434. Click the button next to "Global Shortcut" label and set the shortcut. 445. Click "OK" button to save the changes. 45 46To **paste selected items as plain text** (from CopyQ window) follow the steps above 47but add "Paste as Plain Text" command instead and change "Shortcut". 48 49.. _faq-store-text: 50 51How to store only plain text? 52----------------------------- 53 54To **disallow storing HTML and rich text**: 55 561. Open "Preferences" (``Ctrl+P`` shortcut). 572. Go to "Items" tab. 583. Disable "Web" item in the list. 594. Select "Text" item. 605. Disable "Save and display HTML and rich text". 61 62Similarly, you can also disable "Images" in the list to avoid storing and 63rendering images. 64 65Existing items won't be affected but **any data formats can be removed**: 66 671. Select an item. 682. Press ``F4`` shortcut ("Item - Show Content..." in menu). 693. Select format from list. 704. Press ``Delete`` key. 71 72.. _faq-disable-clipboard-storing: 73 74How to disable storing clipboard? 75--------------------------------- 76 77To temporarily disable storing the clipboard in the CopyQ item list, 78select menu item "File - Disable Clipboard Storing" (``Ctrl+Shift+X`` shortcut). 79To re-enable the functionality select "File - Enable Clipboard Storing" (same shortcut). 80 81To permanently disable storing the clipboard in CopyQ: 82 831. Open "Preferences" (``Ctrl+P`` shortcut). 842. Go to "History" tab. 853. Clear "Tab for storing clipboard" field. 86 87How to back up tabs, configuration and commands? 88------------------------------------------------ 89 90From menu select "File - Export" and choose which tabs to export and whether to export 91configuration and commands. 92 93To restore the backup, select menu item "File - Import", select the exported file, and 94then choose what to import back. 95 96.. note:: 97 98 Importing tabs and commands won't override existing tabs, and will create new ones. 99 100.. _faq-disable-notifications: 101 102How to enable or disable displaying notification when clipboard changes? 103------------------------------------------------------------------------ 104 105To enable displaying the notifications: 106 1071. Open "Preferences" (``Ctrl+P`` shortcut). 1082. Go to "Notifications" tab. 1093. Set non-zero value for "Interval in seconds to display notifications". 1104. Set non-zero value for "Number of lines for clipboard notification". 1115. Click "OK" button. 112 113To enable displaying the notifications, set either of the options 114mentioned above to zero. 115 116.. _faq-share-commands: 117 118How to load shared commands and share them? 119------------------------------------------- 120 121You can stumble upon code that looks like this. 122 123.. code-block:: ini 124 125 [Command] 126 Name=Show/hide main window 127 Command=copyq: toggle() 128 Icon=\xf022 129 GlobalShortcut=ctrl+shift+1 130 131This code represents a command that can used in CopyQ (specifically it 132opens main window on Ctrl+Shift+1). To use the command in CopyQ: 133 1341. Copy the code above. 1352. Open "Command" dialog (``F6`` shortcut). 1363. Click "Paste Commands" button at the bottom of the dialog. 1374. Click OK button. 138 139(Now you should be able to open main window with Ctrl+Shift+1.) 140 141To share your commands, you can select the commands from command list in 142"Command" dialog and press "Copy Selected" button (or just hit Ctrl+C). 143 144.. _faq-ignore-password-manager: 145 146How to omit storing text copied from specific windows like a password manager? 147------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 148 149Add and modify automatic command to ignore text copied from the window: 150 1511. Open "Command" dialog (``F6`` shortcut). 1522. Click "Add" button in the dialog. 1533. Select "Ignore *Password* window" from the list and click "OK" 154 Button. 1554. Select "Show Advanced" 1565. Change "Window" text box to match the title (or part of it) of the 157 Window to ignore (e.g. ``KeePass``). 1586. Click "OK" button to save the changes. 159 160.. note:: 161 162 This new command should be at the top of the command list because 163 automatic commands are executed in the order they appear in the list, 164 and we don't want to process sensitive data in any way. 165 166In some cases, e.g. the password manager is an extension of a web browser or a 167password is copied from a menu instead of a window, the command above won't 168work. You can try setting the "Window" text box to ``^$``, which usually matches 169popup menus. 170 171For a more reliable way, use `a command to blacklist texts 172<https://github.com/hluk/copyq-commands/tree/master/Scripts#blacklisted-texts>`__ 173(it stores just a salted hash, the text itself is not stored anywhere). 174 175.. _faq-logging: 176 177How to enable logging? 178---------------------- 179 180Set environment variable ``COPYQ_LOG_LEVEL`` to ``DEBUG`` for verbose logging 181and set ``COPYQ_LOG_FILE`` to a file path for the log. 182 183You can copy current log file path to clipboard from Action dialog (F5 shortcut) 184by entering command ``copyq 'copy(info("log"))'``. Alternatively, press ``F12`` 185to directly access the log. 186 187If you **cannot access GUI**, you can **restart CopyQ from terminal** and **log 188to a separate file**. On Linux and macOS: 189 190.. code-block:: zsh 191 192 copyq exit 193 export COPYQ_LOG_LEVEL='DEBUG' 194 export COPYQ_LOG_FILE="$HOME\copyq.log" 195 echo "Logs will be written to $COPYQ_LOG_FILE" 196 copyq 197 198On Windows (in PowerShell): 199 200.. code-block:: powershell 201 202 & 'C:\Program Files (X86)\CopyQ\copyq.exe' exit 203 $env:COPYQ_LOG_LEVEL = 'DEBUG' 204 $env:COPYQ_LOG_FILE = [Environment]::GetFolderPath("MyDocuments") + '\copyq.log' 205 echo "Logs will be written to $env:COPYQ_LOG_FILE" 206 & 'C:\Program Files (X86)\CopyQ\copyq.exe' 207 208How to preserve the order of copied items when copying or pasting multiple items? 209--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 210 211a. Reverse order of selected items with ``Ctrl+Shift+R`` and copy them. 212b. Alternatively, select items in reverse order and then copy. 213 214See `#165 <https://github.com/hluk/CopyQ/issues/165#issuecomment-34745058>`__. 215 216How does pasting single/multiple items work internally? 217------------------------------------------------------- 218 219``Return`` key copies the whole item (with all formats) to the clipboard 220and -- if the "Paste to current window" option is enabled -- it sends 221``Shift+Insert`` to previous window. So the target application decides 222what format to paste on ``Shift+Insert``. 223 224If you select more items and press ``Return``, just the concatenated 225text of selected items is put into the clipboard. Though it could do more 226in future, like join HTML, images or other formats. 227 228See `#165 <https://github.com/hluk/CopyQ/issues/165#issuecomment-34957089>`__. 229 230Why does pasting from CopyQ not work? 231------------------------------------- 232 233Pasting from CopyQ works only on Windows, macOS and X11 on Linux. 234 235Specifically, this feature is not supported on Wayland, but you can use 236the workaround: :ref:`known-issue-wayland` 237 238First, check if you have the appropriate options enabled: 239 240a. For pasting from main window, enable "Paste to current window" in "History" 241 configuration tab. 242b. For pasting from tray menu, enable "Paste activated item to current window" 243 in "Tray" configuration tab. 244 245If the pasting still doesn't work, check if ``Shift+Insert`` shortcut pastes to 246the target window. That's the shortcut CopyQ uses by default. To change this to 247``Ctrl+V`` see `#633 248<https://github.com/hluk/CopyQ/issues/633#issuecomment-278326916>`__. 249 250If pasting still doesn't work, it could be caused by either of these problems: 251 252- CopyQ fails to focus the target window correctly. 253- The format copied to the clipboard is not supported by the target application. 254 255How to open the menu or context menu with only the keyboard? 256------------------------------------------------------------ 257 258Use ``Alt+I`` to open the item menu or use the ``Menu`` key on your keyboard 259to open the context menu for selected items. 260 261.. _faq-hide-menu-bar: 262 263How to hide the menu bar in the main CopyQ window? 264-------------------------------------------------- 265 266The menu bar can be hidden by modifying the style sheet of the current theme. 267 2681. Open "Preferences" (``Ctrl+P`` shortcut). 2692. Go to "Appearance" tab. 2703. Enable checkbox "Set colors for tabs, tool bar and menus". 2714. Click "Edit Theme" button. 2725. Find ``menu_bar_css`` option and add ``height: 0``: 273 274.. code-block:: ini 275 276 menu_bar_css=" 277 ;height: 0 278 ;background: ${bg} 279 ;color: ${fg}" 280 281How to reuse file paths copied from a file manager? 282--------------------------------------------------- 283 284By default, only the text is stored in item list when you copy or cut 285files from a file manager. Other data is usually needed to be able to 286copy/paste files from CopyQ. 287 288You have to add additional data formats (MIME) using an automatic command 289(similar to one below). The commonly used format in many file managers is 290``text/uri-list``. Other special formats include 291``x-special/gnome-copied-files`` for Nautilus and 292``application/x-kde-cutselection`` for Dolphin. These formats are used to 293specify type of action (copy or cut). 294 295.. code-block:: ini 296 297 [Command] 298 Command=" 299 var originalFunction = global.clipboardFormatsToSave 300 global.clipboardFormatsToSave = function() { 301 return originalFunction().concat([ 302 mimeUriList, 303 'x-special/gnome-copied-files', 304 'application/x-kde-cutselection', 305 ]) 306 }" 307 Icon=\xf0c1 308 IsScript=true 309 Name=Store File Manager Metadata 310 311How to trigger a command based on primary selection only? 312--------------------------------------------------------- 313 314You can check ``application/x-copyq-clipboard-mode`` format in automatic commands. 315 316E.g. if you set input format of a command it will be only executed on Linux 317mouse selection change: 318 319.. code-block:: ini 320 321 [Command] 322 Automatic=true 323 Command=" 324 copyq: 325 popup(input())" 326 Input=application/x-copyq-clipboard-mode 327 Name=Executed only on X11 selection change 328 329Otherwise you can check it in command: 330 331.. code-block:: ini 332 333 [Command] 334 Automatic=true 335 Command=" 336 copyq: 337 if (str(data(mimeClipboardMode)) == 'selection') 338 popup('selection changed') 339 else 340 popup('clipboard changed')" 341 Name=Show clipboard/selection change 342 343Why can I no longer paste from the application on macOS? 344-------------------------------------------------------- 345 346See: :ref:`known-issue-macos-paste-after-install` 347 348Why does my external editor fail to edit items? 349----------------------------------------------- 350 351CopyQ creates a temporary file with content of the edited item and passes it as 352argument to the custom editor command. If the file changes, the item is also 353modified. 354 355Usual issues are: 356 357- External editor opens an empty file. 358- External editor warns that the file is missing. 359- Saving the file doesn't have any effect on the origin item. 360 361This happens if **the command to launch the editor exits, but the editor 362application itself is still running**. Since the command exited, CopyQ assumes 363that the editor itself is no longer running, and stops monitoring the changes 364in the temporary file (and removes the file). 365 366Here is the correct command to use for some editors:: 367 368 emacsclientw.exe --alternate-editor="" %1 369 gvim --nofork %1 370 sublime_text --wait %1 371 code --wait %1 372 open -t -W -n %1 373 374.. _faq-config-path: 375 376Where to find saved items and configuration? 377-------------------------------------------- 378 379You can find configuration and saved items in: 380 381a. Windows folder ``%APPDATA%\copyq`` for installed version of CopyQ. 382b. Windows sub-folder ``config`` in unzipped portable version of CopyQ. 383c. Linux directory ``~/.config/copyq``. 384d. In a directory specific to a given CopyQ instance - see :ref:`sessions`. 385 386Run ``copyq info config`` to get absolute path to the configuration file 387(parent directory contains saved items). 388 389Why are items and configuration not saved? 390------------------------------------------ 391 392Check access rights to configuration directory and files. 393 394Why do global shortcuts not work? 395--------------------------------- 396 397Global/system shortcuts (or specific key combinations) don't work in some 398desktop environments (e.g. Wayland on Linux). 399 400As a workaround, you can try to assign the shortcuts in your system settings. 401 402To get the command to launch for a shortcut: 403 4041. Open Command dialog (F6 from main window). 4052. Click on the command with the global shortcut in the left panel. 4063. Enable "Show Advanced" checkbox. 4074. Copy the content of "Command" text field. 408 409.. note:: 410 411 If the command looks like this: 412 413 :: 414 415 copyq: toggle() 416 417 the actual command to use is: 418 419 :: 420 421 copyq -e "toggle()" 422 423Why does encryption ask for password so often? 424---------------------------------------------- 425 426Encryption plugin uses ``gpg2`` to decrypt tabs and items. The password usually 427needs to be entered only once every few minutes. 428 429If the password prompt is showing up too often, either increase tab unloading 430interval ("Unload tab after an interval" option in "History" tab in 431Preferences), or change ``gpg`` configuration (see `#946 432<https://github.com/hluk/CopyQ/issues/946#issuecomment-389538964>`__). 433 434How to fix "copyq: command not found" errors? 435--------------------------------------------- 436 437If you're getting ``copyq: command not found`` or similar error, it means that 438the ``copyq`` executable cannot be found by the shell or a language interpreter. 439 440This usually happens if the executable's directory is not in the ``PATH`` 441environmental variable. 442 443If this happens when running from within the command, e.g. 444 445.. code-block:: bash 446 447 bash: 448 text="SOME TEXT" 449 copyq copy "$text" 450 451you can **fix it by using** ``COPYQ`` environment variable instead. 452 453.. code-block:: bash 454 455 bash: 456 text="SOME TEXT" 457 "$COPYQ" copy "$text" 458 459What to do when CopyQ crashes or misbehaves? 460-------------------------------------------- 461 462When CopyQ crashes or doesn't behave as expected, try to look up 463a similar `issue <https://github.com/hluk/CopyQ/issues>`__ first 464and provide details in a comment for that issue. 465 466If you cannot find any such an issue, `report a new bug 467<https://github.com/hluk/CopyQ/issues/new>`__. 468 469Try to provide the following details: 470 471- CopyQ version 472- operating system (desktop environment, window manager, etc.) 473- steps to reproduce the issue 474- application log (see :ref:`faq-share-commands`) 475- stacktrace if available (e.g. on Linux ``coredumpctl dump --reverse copyq``) 476