Share via

How do I fix my copy paste problem

shourya chandresh 0 Reputation points
2026-05-02T14:39:43.96+00:00

Im facing problem in Microsoft edge i couldn't able to select text on an image and copy paste with the cursor pls help me to know how to fix this

Microsoft Edge | Other | Windows 10
0 comments No comments

2 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
  1. Thomas4-N 14,790 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-05-04T12:38:29.7466667+00:00

    Hello shourya chandresh,

    Just to confirm what's happening: when text is part of an image (a picture, screenshot, or scanned page), the cursor can't highlight it the way it does with normal webpage text — because the image is just pixels, not actual text. This isn't a bug, it's how images work.

    The most reliable way to extract text from an image on Windows is PowerToys Text Extractor:

    1. Install Microsoft PowerToys from the Microsoft Store (free, made by Microsoft).
    2. Open PowerToys > make sure Text Extractor is enabled.
    3. Press Win + Shift + T, draw a box around the text on screen, and it's copied to your clipboard automatically.

    It works inside Edge, in any app, on any image on screen — runs fully offline and is much more reliable than browser-based OCR.

    If your issue is actually different — for example, regular copy/paste not working on normal webpage text — let me know and we'll look at it from a different angle.


  2. Q&A Assist
    2026-05-02T14:40:00.2333333+00:00
    AI generated content. This question contains an answer created with AI from Q&A Assist. Learn more

    Microsoft Edge cannot natively select text that is part of an image (for example, a scanned page or a screenshot) in the same way it selects normal page text. The selection and copy features work only on actual text content, not pixels.

    To work around this limitation, use one of these approaches:

    1. Download the image and use an OCR-capable app (such as OneNote, Word, or another image-to-text tool) to extract the text, then copy it from there.
    2. If the page also offers a non-image (plain text or PDF) version of the content, open that version and select/copy the text there.
    3. If the issue is that copy/paste in general is blocked on a site (for example, Office for the web), ensure clipboard access is allowed for that site in Edge:
      1. In Edge, select the lock icon / View site information button in the address bar.
      2. Under Permission for this site, locate Clipboard.
      3. Set it to Allow.

    If copy/paste still fails on normal text (not images), there may be a broader Edge issue. In that case, repair Edge:

    1. Close Edge for all users.
    2. Go to Start > Settings > Apps > Installed apps.
    3. Select Microsoft Edge > Modify.
    4. Approve the prompt and select Repair.

    References:

Your answer

Answers can be marked as 'Accepted' by the question author and 'Recommended' by moderators, which helps users know the answer solved the author's problem.