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I am trying to learn Inkscape. How can I copy and then paste a text box?

If I press ctrl+C then Ctrl+V, it converts it to an image instead.

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    You cannot copy paste a text box as it is (except when copying & pasting in Inkscape). You need to select & copy the text inside the text box & then you can paste it in Inkscape without being converted to an image.
    – chanduc
    Jul 6, 2015 at 16:02
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    What do you mean by text box anyway? From where are you copying it?
    – Wrzlprmft
    Jul 6, 2015 at 21:33
  • @Wzipmft If I go to the "A" icon and click, or if I click and drag to create a box. In both cases.
    – Nrc
    Jul 7, 2015 at 8:13
  • @chanduc, what you say seems the right answer, not just a comment
    – Nrc
    Jul 8, 2015 at 10:57
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    You create a text with the "A" icon, then select it with F1 > Ctrl+C > deselect with click in empty space > Ctrl+V and the result is a embedded image? It seems the behavior of Alt+B (Make a bitmap copy), there is a problem with the shortcut? just happens with the text box?
    – nukkio
    Jul 11, 2015 at 16:59

2 Answers 2

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If you select a text object in Inkscape with the selection tool (the arrow, F1), and then copy/paste it inside Inkscape (using eg. Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V), this produces a copy of the text object. This copy is itself also a text object.

You can also, instead of Ctrl+C then Ctrl+V, press Ctrl+D. This produces a duplicate (a copy) of the original object and places it exactly on top of it. You can do this with a text object, or any other object/path/...

Neither method produces (or should produce) a bitmap copy.

See also Copying, Pasting, and Deleting Objects and Creating Text in the Inkscape User Manual (not updated for Inkscape 0.91 but still accurate for the most part).

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This entry on the inkscape forum describes possible reasons why @bartovan's answer doesn't always work, and how to work around them.

  1. copying from one inkscape document to another pastes as a bitmap. Cut&paste doesn't. So the workaround is to duplicate (Ctrl-D), then cut&paste.
  2. on a Mac, cut&paste still doesn't work because of a bug with X11. The workaround is to modify the settings of X11: preferences -> Pasteboard: uncheck "Update Pasteboard when CLIPBOARD changes"

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