I export Pages documents as PDF for archive in DT.
Copying text from these PDFs generated by Page vie Export function as well as print to PDF does not work.
I highlight text, press CMD-C (no error beep).
I got to e.g. a Mail window and press CMD-C and nothing happens.
Using the menu bar to insert doesn’t work neither.
If I open the same PDF file in Preview or PDF Expert, copying works fine.
I searched for this topic without success.
Which version of macOS and DEVONthink do you use? Does a reboot make a difference?
I am on the road right now. So I recall from memory:
macOS Sonoma latest update, I guess it is 14.5
DT updated as well.
Regarding rebooting:
Yes, Several rebooting -
I observe this behavior since weeks now.
Add on:
Same issue with Copying within DT from displayed Pages documents. Highlighting works but copying false.
I’m seeing no issue with a PDF exported from Pages on Sonoma but reproduced with the Essay template exported to PDF on Sonoma 14.5.
The Edit menu properly highlights when using the shortcut keys. However, explicitly choosing the command doesn’t produce results. Neither does Copy from the contextual menu.
Copy with Source Link yields a linefeed and the link when pasted.
The Sorter’s Copy Selection works as expected but obviously isn’t sending the text to the clipboard.
Services, e.g., DEVONthink 3: Take Rich Note, yield an empty document.
pdf from pages - sonoma.pdf.zip (49.3 KB)
@cgrunenberg: To add to the weirdness, the clipboard is being populated via the command in DEVONthink…
pbpaste | textutil -stdin -convert rtf -stdout | pbcopy
… does allow a paste of the clipboard text into e.g., a draft email properly (though the font and formatting changes in this case).
PS: @Herb, do bear in mind Preview uses Apple’s own version of PDFKit and PDF Expert doesn’t use it at all. So there are technological differences between the three.
I just tried this with the Pages and PDF files (attached). Don’t see a problem when copying out with CMD-C and pasting in with CMD-V.
I notice:
And should you not be be pressing CMD-V to paste from clipboard into Mail? I would expect nothing to happen pressing CMD-C if nothing selected.
Archive.zip (170.7 KB)
Thanx for your remark.
Of course, my fingers press CMD-V 
Sorry for my mistyping.
Works fine over here. Anything unusual in the Console.log?
Nothing unusual to my eye.
Console.log.zip (1.6 KB)
Does disabling live text make a difference? In the end copying the selection to the clipboard or for services is controlled by the PDFkit framework, no idea why this should suddenly fail.
Nope. Same result with Live Text disabled.
Let me reboot in a minute. It’s about time on this Mac.
………
Copy and paste works. And yet again, another confirmation on why rebooting once a week is advocated.
However… the formatting isn’t preserved pasting into TextEdit.
From the PDF in DT (rich text is the source of the PDF this time)…
Pasted into an email…
Same result with Live Text disabled and…it’s seems it’s an OS/PDFKit issue as the same thing happens with Preview.
Not sure what framework Skim is using but…
And to record the result, PSPDFKit’s PDF Viewer.app yields unformatted text with an incorrect linefeed…
@Herb: The TL;DR is reboot at least weekly, if you aren’t already and YMMV depending on what framework/application you’re copying with.
Thank you for providing the sample PDF.
On my system, the PDF text cannot be copied and pasted.
As Jim stated, the menu lights up but no action.
I am almost every night shutting down my macmini.
Furthermore, I just rebooted the system and no difference.
I tried the PDF file provided by rmschne and copy and paste failed.
I tried your example “pdf from pages - sonoma” and copy and paste failed.
PDFs form my scanner and OCR are fine.
Now I am at home and I can report the version properly:
DEVONthink Pro Edition 3.9.6.
Sonoma 14.5
I lost track in you internal discussion with Christian, but it sounds there is some issue.
So, what do you advise beside rebooting?
TIA
HErb
My hunch yet another Sonoma issue.
I have not yet jumped into that world.
I had something similar and it was caused by another app open in background ‘intercepting’ the CMD-C (affectively it had redefined the shortcut CMD-C to do something else like a screen capture).
May be worth trying with only DT and PDF open (and check what is running in the toolbar)
I can reproduce this on only one computer (MacBook Air & Sequoia) but not on two other computers (Mac Studio & Ventura and iMac Pro & Sequoia). Makes me wonder whether it might be a font issue.
The Essay template uses a font I never heard of and without my permission Pages downloaded it. I had a hunch about that ….
@saltlane thanx for your idea.
I closed everything but DT and pages but no progress.
@cgrunenberg
I did more testing:
I copied a highlighted section of a PDF containing formatting (underline, bolt, different font size) which was generated by Pages export.
Then I tried several targets to paste:
Pasting into DT using the menu bar insert from clipboard:
A new RTF Document was generated but with no content
Pasting into an existing DT text file:
Okay, of course only plain text.
Pasting into an existing RTF document in DT:
Okay, but formatting was gone
Pasting into a Pages document:
Menu blinks but nothing pasted
Pasting (CMD-V) into an open Apple mail message:
Menu blinks but nothing pasted
Pasting (Alt-CMD-V) into an open Apple mail message:
Okay, of course without the source formatting
So, formatting seems to be an issue.
The I converted a pure text file into PDF within DT and copy and pasting into pages works okay.
I have the same problem.
But when I enter the copied text into Alfred, the text appears there. If I then copy it there again, the text will appear where I actually want to use it.
Additional Important information to above:
When I open the PDF (generated within Pages via export)
in PDF Expert or Preview copy and paste works fine.
while copy out of the DT preview windows does not paste.
See the last paragraph…
