Clipboard in Linux is weird. Can you replicate this:
If so, that means you don't have a clipboard manager running, default for KDE is Klipper I believe.
step 4 didn't happen. AKA it works now. I have a guess as of why a random app wouldn't be running. And it makes sense that closing would clear it, as screenshotting opens a fullscreen app. But I don't get it, how can closing an application delete my clipboard?
This explains it. Especially the section about selections. A program "owns" the "clipboard" and if it stops it is released. Aka bye bye copied data
Got around to reading it, good to know. Thanks!
Does your second clipboard work? Select text to copy, paste with middle click.
You coud try to install widget to see your clipboard history.
it does, and it haven't cleared since. Idk what's going on, hope it was a one off thing.
There's a reported bug that sounds sorta kinda a bit like your situation? https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=469756
Do you have a password manager installed?
The one I use can populate the clipboard with usernames, passwords, etc. for easy pasting but I'm pretty sure it clears the clipboard after a time for security.
If the clipboard is used for something else within that time window, that could be cleared out instead, I imagine. Caveats being that maybe mine is smarter than that or my memory isn't great so even if it has happened I don't remember. The fact this idea occurred to me makes me wonder though.
Also, different applications do things differently so maybe even if mine doesn't, yours might, etc.
The fact it was a one-off might also tie in because we log into things about as sporadically as one-off weird things happening, and you might not have connected the two, so to speak, if that's what's happened.
I'd love for this to be the case. But no, sadly I have not moved to a password manager, YET. My ongoing best theory is that Klipper stopped.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0