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Cannot copy/paste from another program into syntax editor

  • 1.  Cannot copy/paste from another program into syntax editor

    Posted Tue December 07, 2021 10:03 PM

    I noticed a long discussion of this topic several years ago, but did not see any solution. I use SPSS v. 27 with Windows 10 Pro 64-bit. After some time working on the SPSS syntax editor, I can no longer copy text from another program, such as Word or Excel, into my syntax file. This is a serious annoyance; I work with survey data and like to define variable labels by copying the actual question from the questionnaire into the VARIABLE LABELS command. Previous discussions suggested emptying the Windows copy/paste buffer; pasting the text first to another program, such as Notepad; and copying something within the syntax file, but none of these fix the problem for me. So far, the only sure-fire solution is to close down SPSS entirely, then restart it. But in the middle of a complex analysis, this is a serious pain and a substantial waste of time. Can someone at IBM please provide a solution to this annoying problem?






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  • 2.  RE: Cannot copy/paste from another program into syntax editor

    Posted Wed December 08, 2021 04:08 AM

    I have not had that problem, although I have the same configuration, but there are a few things to try that might help.

    • When you want to paste, use Windows+v. That will show you the items on the clipboard, and you can select what you want to paste.
    • Instead of restarting Statistics, open a new syntax window and try to paste there
    • Try using Edit > Paste rather than ctrl+v or Windows+v






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  • 3.  RE: Cannot copy/paste from another program into syntax editor

    Posted Wed December 08, 2021 07:18 PM

    Dear Jon:

    Thanks very much for these suggestions. When the copy/paste fails, I have tried using the Edit / Paste menu instead of Cntl-V, but without success. Next time the problem occurs after a couple of hours of syntax editing, I will try Windows-V instead of Cntl-V and I will try a new syntax window.






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  • 4.  RE: Cannot copy/paste from another program into syntax editor

    Posted Wed December 08, 2021 08:06 PM

    At least, using Windows-V will prove decisively whether the problem is on the copy side or the paste side. I like to use it often, because it lets me have a stack of items on the clipboard that I can choose to paste from.






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  • 5.  RE: Cannot copy/paste from another program into syntax editor

    Posted Sat January 08, 2022 10:13 PM

    Inability to copy/paste into SPSS syntax file.






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  • 6.  RE: Cannot copy/paste from another program into syntax editor

    Posted Sat January 08, 2022 10:17 PM

    Dear Jon:

    Nope, none of your suggestions work. I am usually trying to copy from Word 2016 to an SPSS syntax file, but without success. Can you think of anything else to do? This is very annoying when trying to annotate a syntax file or do other things, such as copy questionnaire responses into a VALUE LABELS command. Sometimes I am working on very complicated analyses with several open syntax files, databases, and output files. In order restore copy/paste, I have to close everything down and start over. Not great behavior from a $3,000 program, eh?






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  • 7.  RE: Cannot copy/paste from another program into syntax editor

    Posted Thu May 11, 2023 09:31 AM

    I have been having the same copy/paste issue described since at least back to v27 (I'm on v29 now), and the frequency seems to be increasing. The one additional context I would add is that after I copy something from OUTSIDE a syntax window (ctrl-c), when I paste into a syntax window (ctrl-v), it will often paste the last thing I had copied from WITHIN a syntax window. The only consistent solution I've found is to close and then restart SPSS. As described, this is a HUGE time waste.



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    Chris Keran
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    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Cannot copy/paste from another program into syntax editor

    Posted Mon August 14, 2023 02:35 PM

    Not sure if you've resolved this issue. I've been having the same issue and I was just randomly trying different things. If this happens again, try copying something from the Output window, and then copy what you actually want to copy from the external app and then paste into the syntax window. This worked for me just now.



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    Eva Ho Lam Yiu
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    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Cannot copy/paste from another program into syntax editor

    IBM Champion
    Posted Mon August 14, 2023 02:46 PM
    An earlier post discussed the cause of this problem, but I want to reiterate that if you use Edit > Copy instead of ctrl-C, the clipboard seems to work better.

    --



    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: Cannot copy/paste from another program into syntax editor

    Posted 25 days ago

    This ugly workaround worked for me.

    I had Python code in Notebooks. Cut'n paste did not work, not with Ctrl-C / Ctrl-V nor with the menu-driven approach. Copied to MS Word to no avail. Then saved as txt-file and imported the txt-file as a dataset with one variable in SPSS. Then copied the lines of code from the Dataset to the Syntax page. The copy worked, minor editing remains.



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    Jos Blykers
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    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: Cannot copy/paste from another program into syntax editor

    Posted Sat January 08, 2022 10:32 PM

    Sorry, I don't know the root cause, but I have intermittent clipboard problems between programs other than SPSS, so I don't know whether these are OS problems or something specific within SPSS. However, one other workaround would be to save the file you want to copy to disk as an sps file and then open it in Statistics. Have you also tried closing the target file/window and reopening it before the paste?

    I would also suggest reporting this via Help > Report an issue.






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