Copy/Paste operation after window closed?
 

In Windows you can perform a copy operation on data, e.g. document text, then close that application, open a new application, and paste the copied data.

In Linux I'm finding this not to be quite as easy, as once the "copy" application is closed, the copied data is also lost.

Is there a way to fix this?

I’ve never had that problem… what application are you using? what method of copying are you using (e.g., selecting text with the mouse?).

I don't know what gnome provides, but in Kde there is klipper. The usual copy/paste is enhanced. klipper keeps a list of copies (you set the number of copies klipper should keep in the 'configure klipper' option).

Then, when you copy something, it shows up in the list. To paste, you left click on the klipper icon in the tray, select the item to paste, then paste it as often as you want. The selected item remains as the item to paste until you select another, or copy something else.

Let my try to be more descriptive, for example ...
I use instance 1 of gedit to view a text file. I want to copy a piece of text from that instance of gedit into gedit instance 2. As long as the instance 1 remains open, I can copy and paste between the 2 instances. If I perform a copy in gedit 1, then close it, then attempt to paste into gedit 2, I can't.

Let me be a bit more descriptive of my questions:

1. Does it happen in all applications (which toolkit(s) — gtk, qt, kdelib, Xlib/Xaw, etc.)? So far you’ve mentioned gedit which is a gtk application. Does the same problem occur when going between gedit and a different gtk app (say firefox). What about from a completely different gtk app to another different gtk app. What about between gtk and qt apps, or between qt apps. That’s what I was asking there.
2. How are you copying and pasting? The X system has a basic copy and paste functionality employed by selecting text with the mouse (i.e., highlighting it) to copy, and middle click to paste. There is also a copy buffer accessible through certain toolkits (such as gtk) where you press Ctrl+C (or sometimes Ctrl+Insert) to copy and Ctrl+V (or Shift+Insert) to paste.

So could you give us a synopsis of the apps/toolkits between which Ctrl-C/Ctrl-V copy/pasting works and those between which highlight/middle-click works.

Did you figure this one out?

Losing the Paste buffer when the original application is closed is typical Linux behaviour. I sure there are workarounds, such as the aforementioned "klipper," but it's not really that big a deal to get used to. If I'm copying multiple items and I want to close the source files, I simply open a text editor window, such as Gedit and save the fragments there temporarily until I have everything I want.

The tradeoff is "middle click" pasting. Much more efficient than menu based copy/paste or Ctrl-c, Ctrl-v techniques.

For GNOME you can get Glipper.

Hmmm ... I'm unfamiliar with all the different app types you've mentioned ... gtk, qt, kdelib ... I don't know what those are. I'm guessing their a programming layer or feature set? Does the copy/paste procedure only work between apps written in the same toolkit?

Yep, this has been my experience, and how I've been getting around it.