Prior to the Mac it was very difficult to move data from one program to another. Before the Mac there was no agreed way to trade data while the programs were running. Now the clipboard allows you to carry data between programs but only certain types are supported, text, pict, style, sound, and movie. Programs can cut and paste there own data types within themselves but other programs must be programmed to accept those data types. Most Mac programs accept the most common types like text which can always be cut and pasted between programs but the other types may be copied in one program but not pasted in another.
The clipboard is a common area of memory that holds data which can be accessed by any program including the finder. Data can be stored in the clipboard regardless of its type or size. The clipboard can hold any type of data but a program must support each type to have it copied or pasted in that program. Apple introduced some common types and recommends that they be supported by a program, i.e. picture, text, movie, sound, style.
ΓÇó What is the Deskscrap
Each application has its own private section of memory for copying and pasting data. When you shift to another application then this private clipboard is shifted/translated to the deskscrap. The deskscap is a section of system memory that holds data and is available to all applications. CopyPaste can only work with the data found in the deskscrap.
When you copy data to the clipboard like text with formatting and style in a word processor and then paste it elsewhere in the same document you notice that the formatting and style is retained. When you go to another application with the same data you may find that formatting and style disappears and only the text is pasted. This can be due to one or two reasons. It may be because the first application does not allow 'style' info to be passed to the deskscrap or it may be that the second application does not support receiving 'style' from the deskscrap.
So if you want a program to support more file types then you should contact the companies that produce those programs.
Fortunately some of the above programs allow to adjust their preferences to support more types in their clips. MS-Word 4.x-5.X (which in many ways is better then version 6.x) lets you select the use of RTF in the clipboard in their preferences. This option enables styles in all of the clipboards. Check the manual of your program for these preferences.
Music Programs
Some programs won't use the standard deskscrap thus preventing CopyPaste to store their clips. Music programs like Alchemy and other Midi programs behave like this. Please write to the programmers of those applications and ask them to support the standard clipboard with all of their data. It's no effort for them and requires only a single line of code!
ΓÇó Some programs create their own MenuDefinitionFunction to enhance the standard menu presentation. Generally if you see more than one modifier (i.e. shift, option, command, ctrl), patterns or special fonts in the menus, the program uses such a customized menu drawing function. Most programs will nevertheless support submenus. Some programs will not. CopyPaste can patch the custom menu with the usual system menu drawing function. Look at the preferences with its online help to see the option. If you use this option, you will probably miss some features, i.e. the display of assigned keystrokes.
ΓÇó A few extensions may also patch the menu function like CopyPaste does. This may interfere with CopyPaste's actions. Magic Menu from Aladdin crashes if CopyPaste is installed. Popup Folder 2.0.1 seems to delete all events when leaving the patched trap thus preventing CopyPaste from working properly. There is an old type of fax software that alters the menubar if also installed. These are the only known problems. Write to the makers of these programs if you want to see them work. Programmers love to get feedback on their product and especially like recommendations.
To solve these problems you can do this: First try to put the extension which causes the problem into the extensions folder of your system and rename it with a space character in the front. Then this extension will be loaded before CopyPaste in the boot process. If this does not help, you could check the preferences of the extension whether it has a option to switch off the menu patch. Sometimes its not needed. If nothing seems to help, then you can disable the Menu Support of CopyPaste in the preferences dialog. If you are not successful in locating the preferences again, you should delete the preferences file "CopyPasteData" from the preferences folder of your system.
ΓÇó Some programs use command + tab to cycle through their own data records. The use of this key combination would be overwritten by CopyPaste's Application Switcher. You can disable CopyPaste's application switching in the preferences.
ΓÇó Some programs like QuarkXpress or HyperCard or Ragtime use the ctrl + mouseclick for their own purpose. Many users had problems with earlier versions of CopyPaste because this key combination was used for Tag and Drop as a default. For this reason Tag and Drop is disabled by default. You can enable it in the preferences.
ΓÇó There are system extensions which are not recognized by the Extensions Manager which comes with System 7.5. These are background only applications like HPBackground or others. If you try to disable all extensions in order to find a extension conflict, the Extension Manager would miss these extensions. So you have to check your folders including the Startup Items folder manually if you really want to be sure when searching for a conflict. Note: We have never heard of problems with CopyPaste when installed on a really clean system.
