Bitwig copy/paste broken under KDE Plasma? I found the fix
Since upgrading to Kubuntu 26.04, I've been unable to copy/paste inside Bitwig. MIDI data, arranger clips, automation - all of it was broken. I had to get used to Ctrl-dragging stuff for awhile.
I finally found the fix. I'm sharing it here because I have no idea who will accept this as a bug. Maybe Bitwig is copying wrong, or maybe KDE is managing the clipboard wrong... probably both of them will blame the other 😅 that's software integration! In any case:
The fix
- Right-click the clipboard icon in the system tray and select "Configure Clipboard...". ✝
- Uncheck "Save history across desktop sessions", then click OK to save.
That's it. Weeks of frustration caused by a single enabled-by-default checkbox!
Notes
The KWin debug console was very useful for determining what was happening here. Search "kwin" or "debug" in KDE's launcher / start menu to find it. If you're not sure if you're affected by the bug, try copying something in Bitwig with the debug window's "Clipboard" tab open. I observed the clipboard contents update for one frame and then reset to the previous contents. From there, I found this thread which prompted me to check the clipboard tray settings.
✝ If you don't see a clipboard icon, copy any random text and it should show up. If that doesn't work, right-click on the system tray's ^ icon, select "Configure System Tray...", search "Clipboard", and set to "Always show".