BUG: Cant paste text from other apps into After Effects
Since the last update I cant paste text from other apps (browser, word, etc) into After Effects. Looks like AE doesnt recognize I have something in my clipboard. CTRL+V doesnt work, if I go to "edit" the paste option is greyed out.
Using latest AE (v18.4) on Windows 10.
If I revert to v18.2.1 everything works as it should.

Hi everyone,
This bug has been fixed in the latest version of After Effects 2021 ( 18.4.1 ). See https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/kb/fixed-issues.html.
Please install the latest version and let us know if you are continuing to see issues with pasting from other applications. You should no longer need to use the workaround of opening After Effects first before selecting a project file; pasting into Text layers should work when opening AE by double-clicking a project file.
Thank you all again for reporting this issue,
- John, After Effects Engineering Team
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Christoph Heimer commented
The issue is STILL HERE in 22.2.0! It's unbelievable. Please fix this immediately!
It doesnt happen now after double clicking on a project or so, instead it works fine for a while and then after a bit just stops to work. Only restarting AE will help.Maybe one issue was fixed, but the underlying issue seems to persist.
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Lucian Crisan commented
I have that version ( 18.4.1 ) and have just experienced this issue.
Restarting AE seemed to do the trick for me. -
Rich Tervet commented
22.0.0
Still there.
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Андрей Федосимов commented
18.4.1 - bug still present
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James Knopp commented
Genuinely getting to the end of my tether with some of these bugs you are introducing.
This is a basic function. I genuinely want to know how you broke this?
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Luke Aker commented
Bahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. We NeEd MoRe FeAtUrEs. Stepping over a dollar to pick up a dime lol.
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adriana henry commented
how is it not fixed yet????
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Sarah-Lee Neesam commented
How is this not fixed yet?
this work around only works for me when After effects feels like it. If it doesnt decide to work, I have to type ALL of my copy. Now I'm rushing because it takes me so much longer to do, and I am dyslexic and make so many mistakes. It is not only a pain in the a** to create in the first place, but I now also have 9 million amends to do.
But I also seem to have another bit to this bug.
When after affects does allow me to copy and paste my text in, it adds random hyphens through out all of the text.and while I'm dealing with all of this, I have my other designers asking for help because theyre trying to work around bugs in all of your other programmes.
I honestly don't know how you have the nerve to charge so much for softwear that doesnt work.
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大樹 粟飯原 commented
AfterEffectsで外部ソフトウェアからのテキストコピペができなくなりました。改善して欲しいです。
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Sean Cusson commented
This is insane. How is this not an immediate priority for a patch fix? This is literally crippling my workflow. Someone really needs to get off their ***** and make this a priority. The initial post goes back to July 22 and it's Aug 13 with no fix. Hey Adobe, users don't need new features. We need stability and a support culture that ACTUALLY cares about it's users.
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Anton Antokhin commented
Very unhappy with the number of bugs in Adobe Products. Need to fix the issues before rolling out new features.
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Hernan Ramirez commented
same problem for me with lastest BIGSUR update.
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Simon Risbridger commented
Even launching a project from the "open recent" section of the file menu results in this behaviour for me. I feel for any ae users who work with text often but are dyslexic right now.
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paul hutson commented
It is absolutely ridiculous that such an essential and basic functionality would be disabled or at the very least not properly tested before implementing. You have professionals depending on your software to work correctly on a daily basis. I shouldn't have to be constantly figuring out work arounds to use your products. Slow down with all the updates and make them ACTUALLY WORK. This is asinine beyond belief.
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Joel Ferland commented
Same here with copy/paste clips from Premiere Pro on Mac. Reverted to 18.2.1 and works fine.
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Brian Carter commented
The AE team has identified how this is happening and are moving quickly to fix the issue.
If you launch AE by double-clicking on an AE Project, or by right-clicking on a Project file and open it with AE, pasting from the clipboard will be disabled.
For now, the workaround is simply to launch AE FIRST and then proceed to open whichever AE project you want to work with. Paste will then work correctly.
Thank you all for your reports here. Please try out the Beta in the coming days as that is where a fix will first become available.
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Odd Number of Eyes commented
AE sees my clipboard as I am able to paste text to the expression module of the layer but I can't paste text on the text layer itself since the last update.
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Alex Jacoby commented
I cannot paste from Ai to Ae. Running on Mac OS 11.4 Big Sur and running version 18.4. Could paste before update.
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Matthew Johnston commented
Same here. AE 18.4 running on Mac OS 11.5.
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Claire Bosnich commented
Same here! AE v18.4, Windows 10 v1809