Clipboard bug in Wordpad in Windows 7 (accidentally pasting large file into application)

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In Win7, I use Wordpad, and I really like it. For my needs it's lean and fast, yet has the formatting functionalities I'm after when working on my TXT/RTF files on a daily basis. I don't intend to change text editors.

There's a really bad bug which has ALWAYS plagued me. If you have a large file contained in the clipboard, like a 238MB FLAC file, and you accidentally paste it into Wordpad for whatever reason - it hangs the application for a VERY long time (like 2 hours, it depends on how big the file is, because it tries to 'handle' it).

You either have to close the application and lose any unsaved changes, or go do something else until the item has finished pasting into Wordpad (it actually eventually drops the file's icon in wordpad just like how it appears in Windows Explorer).

It's a Windows bug, a Wordpad bug. Is there some solution for this? Or is the problem fixed in Windows 8 (if anyone can tell me)? .....I'm not going to try out Win8 myself, merely to answer this question - that's what I'm asking it on SuperUSer for!

I'm really hoping it's one of those little-yet-big things that they've fixed in Win8 (like removing the 255-character file path limit in Explorer, which is awesome).

Thank you for your help, if you have Win8 handy and can test this. :)

user78017

Posted 2012-06-10T15:26:40.930

Reputation:

Question was closed 2012-07-18T02:40:32.043

2It's not a bug, it's doing what it should and trying to paste a version of the data on the clipboard into Wordpad, just like you asked it when you "accidentally" pasted the file. Also the 255 character limit wasn't a 'bug' that needed fixing either. ;) – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 – 2012-06-10T15:42:53.453

What @techie007 said. It's by design. Wordpad doesn't know about the clipboard contents, and it doesn't need to know. You just need to be more careful with what you're copying. – None – 2012-06-10T17:22:39.283

Yeah I guess you're correct. But it's still a problem. It is an 'issue'. Surely you can't be saying that it SHOULD be doing this? Other text editors don't do it - I just tested. Ultraedit does what other good programs do (like browsers) - it just doesn't copy the info. It must intelligently read the clipboard contents and notice that it's a file, and not copy try to the info.

Microsoft COULD fix it if they wanted. So my question, already asked: is it fixed in Win8 (the problem lies in Word, too)? Thanks. – None – 2012-06-10T20:14:25.097

Answers

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It's not a bug, it's doing what it should and trying to paste a version of the data on the clipboard into the Rich Text Format document, which is what you told it to do when you accidentally pasted the file. :)

Microsoft invented RTF, so they tend to support it fully. The RTF specification allows you to link and embed objects (text, pictures, charts, files, data blobs, etc.) into the document.

From Wikipedia - RE: RTF:

Objects

Use of Microsoft Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) objects or Macintosh Edition Manager subscriber objects limits the interoperability, because these objects are not widely supported in programs for viewing or editing RTF files (e.g. embedding of other files inside the RTF, such as tables or charts from spreadsheet application). If a software that understands an OLE object is not available, the object is usually replaced by a picture (bitmap representation of the object) or not displayed at all.

Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) is another Microsoft technology.

From Wikipedia - RE: OLE:

OLE allows an editing application to export part of a document to another editing application and then import it with additional content. For example, a desktop publishing system might send some text to a word processor or a picture to a bitmap editor using OLE. The main benefit of OLE is to add different kinds of data to a document from different applications, like a text editor and an image editor.

Your best bet may be to use an RTF editor that doesn't fully support the entire RTF specification; specifically one that doesn't implement OLE.

Or perhaps use Notepad, and stick to plain-text documents instead?

Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007

Posted 2012-06-10T15:26:40.930

Reputation: 103 763

That is a great and helpful answer, thank you.

Feel much better knowing that there's a good reason for it behaving that way, and now I can make an enlightened decision accordingly. Just what super user should be for, Cheers :) – None – 2012-06-11T03:52:28.440

Asked: 2012-06-10T15:26:40.930

Viewed: 767 times

Active: 2012-06-11T01:40:07.727