Cannot paste into XMetaL

[G_Hogarth]

XMetaL(R) Author Enterprise 6.0 Service Pack 1
Win 7 Pro, fully patched.

I had to do a reboot after some s/w updates last evening. (Acrobat, Glary Utilities)
XM was working just fine before reboot.
Today, I cannot paste from the clipboard to XMetaL.  It works fine in all other applications I have tested.
I have rebooted again, thinking that it might be just a glitch.
No joy.  The only thing I noticed on the restart this morning was that I got a firewall/security warning on both XM and Pub Mgr.  I gave them full permissions for internet access.
I have closed XM and restarted while holding down the control button.
I can checked out a topic, can edit it by typing, and can save it.
I can use the delete key to remove content.
Ctrl+X and Ctrl+Z work as expected in XM.
Right-click and paste does not work in XM, but I can copy and paste from XM to another app. (using r-click or Ctrl+)
It's like XM can't accept content from the clipboard.

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[Derek Read]

I'm not sure what “Pub Mgr.” is. If this 3rd party software has an integration with XMetaL Author Enterprise then perhaps its code might be doing something to customize paste operations (XMetaL provides various APIs for manipulating and interacting with the Windows clipboard and pasting so it could be doing that). If so it may be misbehaving. If it was working before then that sounds like it has become broken (corrupt or missing files, etc).

Is that a possibility?

If others at your organization have a similar configuration but are not experiencing the issue then I'd say you should try reinstalling all components in your setup (XMetaL Author Enterprise + all 3rd party components that integrate with it).

If others are also seeing the issue then perhaps something has changed in the configuration, but that would likely not happen spontaneously to everyone unless these things are somehow pushed out to people (some CMS integrations have the ability to do that).

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[G_Hogarth]

My apologies. “Pub Mgr” is SDL Publications Manager. 2011 R2 (9.3.7)
This behavior occurs even when that application is not running.
AFAIK, nobody else seems to be having this problem, so I guess I'm stuck reinstalling yet again. 🙁

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[G_Hogarth]

Well.. premature celebrations. 

More information:

• Yes, I was able to copy and paste before.
• Yes, copy and paste works fine in all other applications tested. (Frame Maker, Acrobat Pro, Word, Excel, Notepad ++, …)
• No, I have not installed any other applications (except for the delete/reinstall as noted below).
• Yes, I have rebooted the computer.
• Yes, I have tried starting with the Ctrl key pressed.
• Yes, I have tried multiple files, including ones that are not in the repository.
• I have tried to copy and paste from XMetaL to XMetaL (in the same file) and from a text editor (Notepad ++).
• Running XMetal by itself (but with the SDL applications installed) does not permit pasting.
• I can copy from XMetaL and paste into other applications.
• I tried the process of renaming the C:UsersAppDataRoamingSoftQuadXMetaL directory, then while holding down Ctrl, launching XMetaL.  Kept the Ctrl key depressed until XMetaL fully launched.
• I have tried running XMetaL as explicit administrator.

I have done a complete deinstall and deletion of the obvious SDL/XMetaL directories, and then cleaned the registry before reinstalling the Publication Manager, then XMetaL, then Condition Manager, then Authoring Bridge (in that order, and using *only* the default settings/options)

One note: The deinstall/reinstall did not seem to wipe out the pointers for the repositories.

The only applications running simultaneously are Microsoft Lync, Outlook, and Internet Explorer, Webroot SecureAnywhere, Malwarebytes AntiMalware, Skype, and CrashPlan.  OS is Win 7 Pro 64bit, fully patched. I am not running any hotkey substitution or similar apps. 

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[Derek Read]

Best that you contact XMetaL Support and see if they can set up an online meeting to see the issue and poke around your machine to see if there is anything obvious that is causing the problem.

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[G_Hogarth]

Huge props to our IT chap, who reasoned out that it was an overly-paranoid setting on my anti-virus/firewall application (Webroot SecureAlways) that was blocking the paste action in XMetaL. Changing the XMetaL entries in WebRoot from “monitor” to “allow” has reenabled pasting. Annoying, in that I thought that saying “Yes, I permit this application” would in fact, you know, *permit* the application!

So all is good. (Other than the bruise on my forehead from banging it on the desk….)

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[Derek Read]

Wow, what a PITA. Good thing you have persistent IT people.

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