Ctrl + C & Ctrl + V not working in 16.04

Question

I am not able to copy paste using keyboard shortcuts (CTRL+V and CTRL+C). It is not working globally on my Ubuntu 16.04. CTRL+A is working fine however. How can I fix it? I would be able to add a custom shortcut? If yes, please tell me how. Thanks.

based on the comments:

1. I am not able to use the shortcuts in GEdit.

2. I have only one keyboard layout (hopefully US English).

3. I cannot find any options which list CTRL+V and CTRL+C in keyboard shortcuts. As a matter of fact, I cannot see anything that has copy or paste among keyboard shortcuts.

4. CTRL+SHIFT+C/V is also not working on Gnome Terminal.

xev output:

KeyPress event, serial 34, synthetic NO, window 0x3600001,
    root 0xe6, subw 0x0, time 21190334, (-274,200), root:(463,252),
    state 0x0, keycode 37 (keysym 0xffe3, Control_L), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyRelease event, serial 37, synthetic NO, window 0x3600001,
    root 0xe6, subw 0x0, time 21190419, (-274,200), root:(463,252),
    state 0x4, keycode 37 (keysym 0xffe3, Control_L), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeymapNotify event, serial 37, synthetic NO, window 0x0,
    keys:  4294967252 0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   
           0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0

Update :

I am able to use ctrl + Insert for Copy and shift + Insert for paste.

Solution

I have stumbled across a fix. In the Keyboard and mouse tab of gnome-tweak-tool. I enabled Show All Input Sources and Show location of Pointer and as if by magic Ctrl is behaving as expected. Weird, does this also work for you?

Comments

[ubfan1]

Those keys are not global. gnome terminal for instance uses shift ctrl c and shift ctrl v for cut and paste.

[Delorean]

Unless I'm in a browser, I find myself right-clicking and selecting copy or paste as this always works.

[Zuko]

Check if you have two layouts Keyboard as it is possible the first layout is not English

[Zuko]

You can try Keyboard -> Preferences -> Keyboard Shortcuts and edit the shortcut for ctrl-c or simply use a mouse

[user227495]

Right click copy - paste is working for me. But I am not able to use keyboard shortcuts in text editor or firefox. @Videonauth I would assume ctrl v and ctrl c working if it works in gedit. Thanks. PS : I have updated my post.

[David Foerster]

In a terminal, can you please run xev, give focus to the opened program, press and release Ctrl, and include the resulting output in your question (only from the key event, not all the mouse movement events that may appear as well).

[user227495]

Thanks for the help @DavidFoerster . I have updated my post. Please check.

[user227495]

Hi @DavidFoerster . I might have messed up last time. I have tried again and posted the output in my post. CTRL + A is working everywhere. So, I guess CTRL key is ok.

[David Foerster]

In that case I don't know what else you could check.

[user227495]

Hi @DavidFoerster , will it be possible for me to create custom shortcuts using settings > keyboard ? If yes, please tell me how to. Thanks.

[user227495]

I just tried what you said @GreggC2006 . But without no success.

[Wagner Pinheiro]

enabled 'Show All Input Sources' works for me, tks!

[MyopicVisage]

Enabled 'Show Extended Input Sources', worked! Thank you!

[CaTx]

Doesn't work in terminal.

[Shannon Lowder]

Try to avoid abbreviations in answers, or spell out the words the first time, and include the abbreviation in parenthesis. Some users might not understand DE is Desktop Environment.