Hello. I am having issues with copying and pasting nodes. I’m running on a local server, using the Docker option with version 2.7.5 of n8n.
It doesn’t work in the same workflow nor in different workflows. I can see the duplicate option, but only when selecting a node in the same workflow. The copy option seems to work.
I checked a few of the questions and am wondering if it’s related to the current version.
I appreciate your assistance,
What is the error message (if any)?
No error message, but I can copy the node, but cannot past:
(Select the nodes on your canvas and use the keyboard shortcuts CMD+C/CTRL+C and CMD+V/CTRL+V to copy and paste the workflow.)
Also unable to paste the entire workflow in here.
Hello @Anshul_Namdev, thank you for your response.
The import options work correctly. I believe the other options as well. Just the “paste” option doesn’t show at all.
I wonder if it could be the browser? I’m currently using Google Chrome.
** edit: It’s not the browser, just tried Firefox and Brave.
For pasting i guess CTRL+V is the only move you can make to paste the workflow from any n8n instance to other instances, as when you copy a workflow it does not copy some actual nodes it copies the JSON structure and then paste that JSON into another environment.
Definitely should be possible @Calves. Selected nodes, pieces of flows, and entire flows can be copy-pasted directly in and between flows.
Couple thoughts: (1) You are clicking into the canvas prior to the Ctrl+V, correct? (2) Are you using an English keyboard? Some non-English keyboards map combo-keys differently.
Yes. I can actually see the Copy command working. But for some reason, after that the Ctrl + V doesn’t work, and there’s no paste command available either.
Yes, my keyboard is the English standard.
hit F12 and check the console when you try to paste -do you see a red error saying navigator.clipboard is undefined or permission denied?.
if so then your browser is blocking the clipboard API
can you share how are you accessing n8n, via what?
@A_A4 is on the right track here, this is almost certainly a clipboard API permissions issue since you’re accessing n8n over HTTP on a local server. Modern browsers only allow clipboard access on “secure contexts” which means either HTTPS or localhost, so if you’re hitting your Ubuntu server by IP address or hostname over plain HTTP the browser will silently block clipboard operations.
Check the console like A_A4 suggested, but the fix is either to access n8n via `localhost` if you’re on the same machine, set up a reverse proxy with SSL (nginx + Let’s Encrypt is pretty straightforward), or add your site to Chrome’s insecure origins allowlist by going to `chrome://flags/#unsafely-treat-insecure-origin-as-secure` and adding your n8n URL there. The flags workaround is the quickest way to test if this is actually the issue before messing with SSL certs.
