VNC^® Enterprise Edition User Guide

Copying and pasting text between client and host computers

You can copy and paste text between applications running on the client and host computers.

Note that, when pasted, any formatting applied to the copied text is lost, and that the computer you are pasting to must support the language of the copied text in order for it to be pasted meaningfully.

To copy and paste text from an application on the client computer to one on the host:

1. On the client computer, copy the text in the expected way for the platform of the client computer, for example by selecting it and pressing Ctrl-C (Cmd-C on Mac OS X). The text is copied to the Clipboard.

2. Give the VNC Viewer window focus, open the destination application on the host computer, and paste the text in the expected way for the host’s platform, for example by pressing Ctrl-V. (To emulate Cmd-V on a Mac OS X host, press Alt-V on a PC keyboard.)

To copy and paste text from an application on the host computer to one on the client:

1. Within the VNC Viewer window, copy the text in the expected way for the platform of the host computer, for example by selecting it and pressing Ctrl-C. (To emulate Cmd-C on a Mac OS X host, press Alt-C on a PC keyboard.) The text is copied to the Clipboard.

2. Give the destination application on the client computer focus, and paste the text in the expected way for the client’s platform, for example by pressing Ctrl-V (Cmd-V on Mac OS X).

If copy and paste fails for any reason, start with Troubleshooting copy and paste.

Disabling and enabling copy and paste

You can disable copy and paste while the current connection is in progress.

To do this, open the VNC Viewer Properties dialog and, on the Inputs tab, turn off Share clipboard with VNC Server. For more information on this dialog, see Using the VNC Viewer Properties dialog.

You can enable copy and paste again at any time.

Troubleshooting copy and paste

If copy and paste does not work, check the following:

1. VNC Viewer may have been configured to disable copy and paste. To see how to enable it again, read Disabling and enabling copy and paste.

2. VNC Server may have been configured to prevent copy and paste. If this is the case and you do not have access to the host computer, you will need to consult your system administrator or a host computer user. If you do have access to the host computer, and sufficient privileges to configure VNC Server, you may be able to allow it again. For more information, see Preventing copy and paste.

3. VNC Server may have been configured to prevent you copying and pasting. If this is the case and you do not have access to the host computer, you will need to consult your system administrator or a host com­puter user. If you do have access to the host computer, and sufficient privileges to configure VNC Server, you may be able to allow it again. Alternatively, you may be able to connect as a different host computer user and access this functionality. For more information, see Restricting functionality for particular con­nected users.

4. Under UNIX or Linux, for VNC Server in Virtual Mode, a program called vncconfig may not be running. If this is the case, no VNC Server icon is displayed in the Notification Area, and copy and paste is dis­abled. To enable it again, type vncconfig in a Terminal window, and press the ENTER key.

Note that under some versions of UNIX, a VNC Server icon is never available. However, copy and paste may still be enabled in this case.